Don't recall any of Vans parts being soft and pliable. Is the resin fully cured?
Assuming it is cured, but just very thin, well, it's glass....you can add as many plies to the inside as you wish. I recall the nose cones needing shim plies under the screw locations anyway.
BTW, because of the 8's unique gear legs, it is possible to do all the wheelpant work on the bench:
I'm also currently fitting the wheel pants. My wheel pants are made from Epoxide resin - the forward part is the same then the rear part. They are both solid - definetely not pliable or rubbery. They also don't have a gel coat, which is great, because that way the holes in the brackets are easy to see through the wheel Pants.
Has anyone suffered damage to the pants either by hard landings, or too tall wheel chocks and linemen?
Mine seem to have a hard life, and I am patching them with glass and re-spot painting too often. Maybe a fresh set is in order... but wondering if making them less tall would be a solution.
The question is "has anybody who uses their airplane a lot NOT had to do numerous repairs?"
I usually repair a couple of wheel pants a year at our house (three RV's). The major causes are wheel-to-pant gaps that are too tight, pants too low that scrape on something, or flat tires. You can patch a lot of times before it is worth starting over (if you haven't done pants before).
One tip - consider making the bottom half of your pants a color that is available in a spray can. Makes repair/repaint much easier!
Paul, excuse me if you answered this before but what clearance are you using between tire and pant?
excellent! Glad you asked about it and got some input.