Believe or not, contamination does work its way into the bushings. When you clean a chain, if it was just the metal on metal wear then all the gunk should have been magnetic but it is not, only a portion is magnetic.
More importantly in the controlled experiments where chain is sprayed with contaminants, chain wears out much faster than the experiments where no contaminants are present. If that is not enough evidence then I don't know what is.
Wet lubes not only attract dirt but most likely they also carry it inside the bushings as the chain moves.
By the way when I looked into the differences between cheap and expensive chains, I saw that higher quality chains come plated with ptfe like coatings all the way to the pins that prevents wear and increase chain life (and the price). Once that coating deteriorates the chain wears out at a faster rate. The added dry lubricants in paraffin wax create a similar low friction layer which is probably the reason why it works so well.
More importantly in the controlled experiments where chain is sprayed with contaminants, chain wears out much faster than the experiments where no contaminants are present. If that is not enough evidence then I don't know what is.
Wet lubes not only attract dirt but most likely they also carry it inside the bushings as the chain moves.
By the way when I looked into the differences between cheap and expensive chains, I saw that higher quality chains come plated with ptfe like coatings all the way to the pins that prevents wear and increase chain life (and the price). Once that coating deteriorates the chain wears out at a faster rate. The added dry lubricants in paraffin wax create a similar low friction layer which is probably the reason why it works so well.