I ordered a pad for the top tube of my Long Haul Trucker, since I would be leaning it on various things. The first trip to the grocery store, the bike slipped as I was loading the groceries in the bags, and the top tube scraped across a rusty sign post, which was a stamped piece of metal, and left an inch and a half long scrape. The bike was less than a week old. The pad came later.
The scrape was touched up with a Sharpie marker. Still there eleven years later. Doesn't bother me.