Danboy.... I have a 48" coring aerator I pull behind my garden tractor and it works great.... good penetration with 4 concrete blocks plus a cylinder head off an old Pontiac. I have a ritual I go through every year ..... when leaves pretty much stop falling, I rake my yard with a sweeper and dethatcher, then run over everything with the coring aerator, then spread Scotts Bonus S. I started out with a little bit of sod and now I have close to 3 acres of nice centipede lawn from the runners. I core aerate twice a year. I probably have much better soil than you mention though... mostly sandy loam with small mixture of clay.... drains good... to good sometimes. I guess point I'm trying to make is I chose the coring aerator over the spiked aerator as it opens the the ground to circulate more oxygen. Sometimes after good rain storms I also run a 48" poly lawn roller to smooth out bumps. Good luck!
