Pure noob here that only does family vehicles, but would like to weigh in.
To the OP - I have the concave on one of my pads. I would have had on 2 pads, but I learned that if you keep going and don't pay attention to the heat, in my case (Griot's orange pads) the pad went from the concave and loaded with product stage to self-destructing from the center outwards. Pieces if foam slinging about, etc. I was using 105 both times (1 destructed, and 1 merely concaved).
I now rotate pads religiously. After a bit of use I drop the used pad into a pail w/mild soap and cool water and go to a clean pad. At some point I'll hand wash the pad(s) I dropped into the bucket and rinse and dry them to rejoin the rotation. Of course, note my first sentence in this post - doing various family vehicles = relaxed pace and no sense of urgency, so the inefficiencies of this process do work fine for my situation. There's other articles here discussing pad washing on the fly, but like I said, the "take a break, listen to music, and have a drink method" works fine for me. More importantly, my pad rotation/cool down routine did stop the conditions fron reoccurring. No doubt you'll find a process that incorporates similar measures as has been suggested by others.
One thing I did notice is that I could def feel the heat build-up much more readily upon removing the pad from the GG6. Where it felt "pretty warm" on the surface as installed, it felt "hot" on the Velcro side after removal.
Final note: I did ask Griot's what gives, and sent them pics when the 1st pad was destroyed. The reply was suggesting never go above speed 4, and don't put any more pressure than the machine's weight itself is. So, what, 3 lbs or whatever? Well, sure, that'd probably let the pad live a lot longer, but I doubt I'd be happy with the progress. I generally disregarded that advice and follow the methodologies from this forum regarding speeds, pressures, etc. The pad rotation I use took care of the problems for me.
Whew, long winded. Sorry 'bout that.
Civdiv99
