The head was worn down flat and that was your whole problem? I don't buy it. A worn head costs you some bite, sure, but if the carpet is bubbling up behind you on every pass that is a technique issue, not a tool issue. You probably weren't knee kicking hard enough into the corner and letting the stretch run out before you tucked, and a fresh head just covered up the bad habit for one job. Lou's kicker felt better because it was different in your hands, not because yours was dead. I've seen guys run the same beat head for years and lock carpet in fine, so telling people to swap heads before they look at their own form is backwards. Bet you ten bucks that hallway section you quoted was never the pad either.

Buddy of mine ran into the same wall with a brewery client, tried hex codes for weeks and got mush. Then he dropped in one photo of an old label as a style ref and boom, spot on. Makes you wonder if the model just needs to see it instead of read it, right?