My feeble experience has just been the opposite. On brands with superior paint: Fuji for example, I often find the chrome to be rusted, while the paint looks fresh. Part of it may due to the thin coating of chrome applied. I can't think of a single neglected bike I have picked up where the chrome was great, and the paint had issues. OK, now that I have said this, I figure the next bike I pick up will have crap/rusty paint, and pristine chrome....