is it ever too late to hollow time aerate?

Hi. I've been slowly hollow tining my lawn at about 1 foot wide strip per 2 days due to kids/dogs 'assistance'. However, after the current heat/lack of rain, the soil now appears too hard to aerate, as rather than getting slugs of soil out, one stomp and it's full, and takes half an hour to unpack and if I don't, I'm actually just punching holes in the ground without removing any soil, so its making the local compaction worse. So I've watered the lawn today to try and continue tomorrow, but its getting into growing season, so think I'm too late now. PS, is there any way to improve the surface/release of the tiner, such as non stick paint? Thanks.