Sticky paint means different things to different people, and ultimately its causes are various and many are not well known in that they have not been decisevely proven.
The effetcs of sticky paint are to cause the rotary polisher to feel like its dragging and sticking (hence the name), and the polish residue to flash and dry... You generally see high heats very quickly, owing I believe to an
increased frictional resistance and this acts to dry out the polish by removing its lubrication... this then increases the heat yet further and in bad cases you get into a viscious circle where the polishing set can only be abandoned.
Various theories exist as to the cause of the sticky paint, from silicones in the paint to the paint itself - the actual causes are not definitely known but I believe there is more than one contributory factor... Having seen sticky paint on hard and soft paints alike, I dont believe paint hardness is a big contributing factor. Amusingly, spraying some plastic protection sprays with silicones in them caused sticky paint on my Toyota test car, and this result was repeatable to the extent I used this trick on one of my rotary tuition days, for amusement's value
Bear in mind, silicone is not a single one thing, but rather a name given to a family of "plastics", many silicones are highly beneficial in products and should not be regarded as a bad thing.
Cures for sticky paint vary also - I find that lightening the pressure and using slower speeds helps cure on most occasions, sometimes addition of oils or use of an oily polish works better, sometimes slower speeds work better, sometimes a bit of "brute force" actually yields the most efficient results - with so many cures and so many apparent causes, it is obvious to me there is more than a single contributing factor to the phenomenon of sticky paint... In fact, I am beginning to believe that its simply another "factor" of the paint being polished that you must adapt your technique to suit in the same way as some paints will finish sharper with one technique versus another.
