No, vinyl is not to be thought of as paint, it's to be thought of as vinyl. They might not last, but that doesn't matter. If the vinyl chips, just replace it. I've replaced the nose stripes on my Miata 4 or 5 times over a few years.
I have X-pel's flavor of clearbra installed on the Miata. I just cut it and installed it on the painted part and left the stripes alone. But if I had the car pre-clearbra'd, I would have just stuck the stripes on top. Vinyl sticks to other vinyl just fine, and especially well to 3M's clearbra which is actually clear-coated on top. I would think you'd just be able to remove and reinstall your nose stripes easier in the future.