I really think you should give silicone a shot again.
/rant
I throw the thickest string you can find from P44, and make my own string at home which is also thicker than anything on the market. Because of this, all of my yoyos are recessed silicone - not to mention how cheap it is. $8~ for a tube and it can do my entire collection that consists of random response sizes. Compare that to me trying to find pads that work specifically for each individual yoyo - like my v1 Magnolia that only takes a specific type of pad. Do I even know or care what pad it takes? Nope, cause I silicone everything.
Permatex 81730 flows the best, self levels, and leaves no bumps, holes, divets, and doesnt require a Card to apply. It’s not the hardest, maybe more towards the softer spectrum of Silicones, but I’ve got 0 complaints with it.
You can mix different types too, to get different hardness levels that you desire. So you could mix Ultra Grey and Ultra Black to get something inbetween the two hardness.
I just simply don’t think Pads are going to be a good option for you and the way you throw, meaning multiple string layers and thick string. They are NOT “standard” even if someone says so, a lot of pads and response wells are mismatched sizes.
The main thing is, I don’t think pads should be flush at all. And the real issue is that often times yoyos come from the factory with protruding pads as well. What’s the point of making a performance yoyo where your string is rubbing on the response pad the whole time killing the yoyo. So the chances that you find a pad you like, that fits ALL your yoyos is going to be very low.
Another Douska Stock Photo with the pads exposed - There’s a lot of stock photos of yoyos like this if you start looking for it.
The response well should be a fo-mo schmoove groove with the response recessed so that it only touches the rubber when you want the string to engage with it to perform a bind - it should never touch the string otherwise.
snap of the MoNo with snowtires, Tighter Gap width, but recessed so it’s effectively a 4.8 gap width if you’re measuring from the pad instead of the wall. I believe they said it was a mistake, but to me it’s how it should be.
How it shouldn’t be.