Just got off the phone with GG, new backing plate is on its way.
Alan, gentlemen I spoke with, told me they use spd 4 for cutting and have never needed spd 6 as it’s overkill. Talked about technique and I mentioned the pads I was using didn’t have the hole, he said the polisher really needs that hole to get rid of the heat. So I’m gonna try and drill a hole I’m a pad and see how it works, probably need to punch it rather than drill....
Either way I’m very happy with the customer service as I knew I would be. Now to slow the machine a bit and see what happens.
But you stated you weren't using Speed 6, but using Speed 5, correct?
Sorry to sound like a sceptic, and not having further technical data to extrapolate what actually occurred (OPM-Pad in use, technique, speed of Rotation-etc) as such a failure is not being done and compared under controlled test conditions.
One would think and hope that a Backing Plate, and in particular, the Griots Plate which has a boatload of holes punched through it would be much more durable than any Pad attached to it. Yet the Pad didn't fail, the Plate did.
To more accurately state what failed in your particular case, is the Adhesive holding the Velcro Attachment Pad failed and separated due to heat. My question is then, does one single central hole in a Polishing Pad be the sole cause of such a failure? And that this is the culprit to blame for the failure?
How come then, I've not recalled any such failures happening to a conventional LC Yellow Urethane Backing Plate that possesses no holes for cooling, and that there's people out there who'll buff out, or should I say "try" to buff out an entire vehicle with one Pad, literally destroy the Pad in the process, but yet the Backing Plate goes merrily along for the ride with no damage incurred?
Not to mention other design features to enhance cooling with these newfangled Griots Machines, something's just not jiving with me with this one as placing any faults upon Pads, or user error.
I'll assume Griots, and other manufacturer's reasonings for placing holes in the Backing Plate is more likely there to help a Pad remain cooler, correct? That the Pad is the part that is the weak link, no?
It doesn't dismiss in my eyes why the Machine itself had gotten very hot, and in so short a time? And in which way the heat then traveled, from the Pad to the Plate to cause the damage, or originate from the Machine itself?
Were there any other anomalies you noted while in operation, any excessive noise(s), vibration, etc?
.. Mike any videos of you doing a class from those days before DA pads were a thing? 
