---------------------------------------------------------- RV9-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Fri 06/12/09: 1 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 07:13 PM - Re: Heads Up On Wheel Pant Fiberglass Quality... (e.ap) ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 07:13:15 PM PST US From: "e.ap" Subject: Re: RV9-List: Heads Up On Wheel Pant Fiberglass Quality... Don't you just get tired of pissing away good money for trash?? E! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Matt Dralle" Sent: Friday, June 05, 2009 11:43 AM Subject: RV9-List: Heads Up On Wheel Pant Fiberglass Quality... > > Dear Listers, > > I took delivery of an RV-8 QB finish kit around September 2008. Last > weekend I started tackling the installation of the wheel pants. The first > thing I noticed on inspection of the wheel pants was how horrible the > quality was. The front piece didn't fit the back piece and the flange > shoulder on the back pieces were not straight. Getting a even an "okay" > fit was nearly impossible. The other issue was the quality of the > fiberglass itself. On the rear part of the back piece, the epoxy resin > was completely spider-cracked on both sides and on both pants. It was > nothing a few more coats of resin and a bunch of sanding couldn't fix, but > who wants to do that? Needless to say, I was fairly demoralized by the > fact that there was really no way I was going to be able to make them > really fit together "perfect". > > But, I plowed ahead anyway and started trying to mount them to the Grove > Airfoiled gear. I had a lot of trouble getting them to fit correctly onto > the landing gear. The main issue seemed to be that they are too small at > the bottom and don't fit over the brake caliper without touching. I kept > thinking that I must just not have them in the correct position, so I kept > hogging out a little more glass here and there with the Dremel tool until > basically the holes were all too big (for the gear leg and for the wheel). > I finally found a couple of builder web sites where others have had the > same issue with the brake caliper interference and they added a 2.5" > "blister" to pooch out over the area that rubs. But by this time it was > too late for that first set of pants. > > But here's the interesting part. Since I had basically destroyed both of > the original pants trying to get them to fit, I decided to just order up a > replacement set, take a sedative, and start over again on the whole thing. > The new wheel pants arrived from Van's yesterday. The difference in > quality between these replacement units and the ones from last year is > incredible! The seams are nearly perfect on the replacements and only > required a bit of sanding on the front part to get a *perfect*, and I mean > *perfect* fit between the front and back halves. The consistency of the > fiberglass layups is 100% better on the new units, and that seam at the > top was already so flat, I didn't even have to sand it down. There are no > spider cracks in the glass anywhere. I haven't actually weighed them, but > replacements feel like they might be somewhat lighter as well. > > Obviously Van's switched fiberglass vendors at some point in the last 10 > months and the switch was well worth it. I've attached a couple of photos > of the Circa September 2008 and Circa June 2009 sets I received. The only > similarity is in the overall shape. > > FYI > > Matt Dralle > RV-8 #82880 N998RV ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Matronics Email List Services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post A New Message rv9-list@matronics.com UN/SUBSCRIBE http://www.matronics.com/subscription List FAQ http://www.matronics.com/FAQ/RV9-List.htm Web Forum Interface To Lists http://forums.matronics.com Matronics List Wiki http://wiki.matronics.com Full Archive Search Engine http://www.matronics.com/search 7-Day List Browse http://www.matronics.com/browse/rv9-list Browse Digests http://www.matronics.com/digest/rv9-list Browse Other Lists http://www.matronics.com/browse Live Online Chat! http://www.matronics.com/chat Archive Downloading http://www.matronics.com/archives Photo Share http://www.matronics.com/photoshare Other Email Lists http://www.matronics.com/emaillists Contributions http://www.matronics.com/contribution ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These Email List Services are sponsored solely by Matronics and through the generous Contributions of its members.