The chain stays on my beater is in really rough shape with exposed metal all along its length on the drive side. So before taking it into the salt for the first time ever this winter, I decided to rub it thoroughly with car wax. Just regular hard carnauba wax.
Well guess what... the exposed metal bits of the chain stays are still silver. On the other hand, I'm finding a few spots of tiny rust bubbles underneath the paint on the top tube near welds (where presumably, paint adherence isn't great.) Next winter I'm waxing the whole dang bike.
One winter of riding has done more damage than literally over a decade of pre-bike-educated neglect.
