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Repairable?

WingnutWick

Well Known Member
Hello all, my wheel pants have taken a beating over the years with a couple flats and I am wanting to fix them up but curious if this is a reasonable job. Photos attached.

Thank you!
 

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It is fiberglass, so very repairable but it might be more work than buying a new one and retrofitting it.
 
Fiberglass and can be repaired.

Repairable - yes, definitely
Reasonable - well - compared to new pants and refitting them - MOST definitely.

The glass/reinforcement is easy, getting the profile is a little more thinking. Having a friend with the same style/profile would make it really easy. Especially if they are not installed yet. Just coat with PVA and place a few layers on there to make a mold. Then affix said mold to your part and proceed with standard practices.
 
I just rebuilt my wheel pants that were pretty beat up and it took a long while building them up and sanding. I bought a new nose wheel pant and wish I had just replaced them all. They turned out pretty good but it would have been a lot faster and easier to buy new. It’s just a matter of how much time you want to spend or how much money you want to spend.
 
Easy peasy....

Make up support moulds with plasticard, cleco them on. Lay up some cloth, get some stability back in there, then build more layers, maybe some carbon on the edges, cut, fill sand, sand, sand, fill, sand etc.....

I did one pair twice - then they set fire to them in Iceland.... I gave up then - long story isn't it Mark :D:D:D
 
Those look like mine did after a trip to KOSH. New tires were a little bigger then the old ones, apparently, leading to some pretty severe damage on the bottom of the wheel pants. As near as we can figure, the tires picked up some gravel and it ripped through the glass on the bottoms.

Now, bear in mind -- I don't do fiberglass. The last time I did anything at all with fiberglass was patching a fender in the 1970s.

After some debate as to how to get the correct shape, I cut one of those disposable polyethylene cutting sheets in half and taped it around the bottom of the wheel pant to get the shape. Then I cut a few plies of cloth to fit with an inch or two overlap on the sound glass parts. I laid Saran wrap on the bench, then the cloth plies (all of them), then poured on a little West Systems epoxy and topped with another layer of cling wrap. Rolled it out with a wooden roller, then pulled off one of the layers of cling wrap and laid it in place from the inside of the wheel pant. The next day I trimmed up the edges, then mixed up some micro to fill in the seams and give it a nice smooth finish. Overall... child's play. I was very surprised at how easy it was, and how good the result looked. Especially for the bottom of the wheel pant, that no one will see... it still looks good.
 
Good time to put on galoshes ;)

Might be able to mold a set using the top of the existing wheel pant. The originals were 9oz plain weave saturated with a room temperature cure urethane rubber. The run with only 3/4" ground clearance aft of the tire, so they get dragged a lot (there is no hard glass there). I'd just add a patch at annual if needed. After 10 years of beating and scraping, this annual I pulled off some of the urethane patches and replaced them with glass saturated with Permatex Ultra Black silicone...another experiment.

In addition to shrugging off damage, they require no clearance around the edges of the tire.
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Dan, any idea what effect these have on TAS? Did you ever do any before and after testing? Just curious...my guess is that's a lot of drag being smoothed out!
 
Thanks all! I'm going to give the repair a shot vice making new ones. I haven't worked with fiberglass before. Is there a good reference specific to this kin of fiberglass work that references materials and types of sanding, etc?
 
Dale, do you have photos of this by chance?

Those look like mine did after a trip to KOSH. New tires were a little bigger then the old ones, apparently, leading to some pretty severe damage on the bottom of the wheel pants. As near as we can figure, the tires picked up some gravel and it ripped through the glass on the bottoms.

Now, bear in mind -- I don't do fiberglass. The last time I did anything at all with fiberglass was patching a fender in the 1970s.

After some debate as to how to get the correct shape, I cut one of those disposable polyethylene cutting sheets in half and taped it around the bottom of the wheel pant to get the shape. Then I cut a few plies of cloth to fit with an inch or two overlap on the sound glass parts. I laid Saran wrap on the bench, then the cloth plies (all of them), then poured on a little West Systems epoxy and topped with another layer of cling wrap. Rolled it out with a wooden roller, then pulled off one of the layers of cling wrap and laid it in place from the inside of the wheel pant. The next day I trimmed up the edges, then mixed up some micro to fill in the seams and give it a nice smooth finish. Overall... child's play. I was very surprised at how easy it was, and how good the result looked. Especially for the bottom of the wheel pant, that no one will see... it still looks good.
 
Bill, can you explain what the PVA is for? I'm a noob at this. Thanks!


Repairable - yes, definitely
Reasonable - well - compared to new pants and refitting them - MOST definitely.

The glass/reinforcement is easy, getting the profile is a little more thinking. Having a friend with the same style/profile would make it really easy. Especially if they are not installed yet. Just coat with PVA and place a few layers on there to make a mold. Then affix said mold to your part and proceed with standard practices.
 
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The product link says to use wax under it.

Yes, I do wax under PVA in making my plenums. Probably overkill, but I waxed a couple of times, then sprayed the PVA. The first coat needs to be misty and light or it will collect and bead over the wax. Then spray a couple of more. PVA can be brush applied, but not on wax. Brush marks will transfer to the mold. More to sand.

Since I warmed my parts in the mold. Several coats of wax and PVA ensured it would not be sticking. Any less and it was noticeable during removal, but never stuck.
 
I have an unused wheel pant that I can use to make the patch mold. Is it best to lay the patch on top of the existing pant (with overlap) then fiberglass on top of the patch over it's edge OR cut a clean section out of the damaged pant, and make a patch that pits perfectly INTO that segment and somehow bond them?

Some questions: What type of fiberglass to use? What's the sanding technique? Will I need filler - if so, what kind? I have the RV-8 plans coming to me, so forgive me if Vans outlays this all in there.
 
There are a LOT of ways to do fiberglass repair, many of them “right”! I am no expert, but I have repaired enough wheel pants with our little fleet that I wrote an article for Kitplanes a couple years back detailing one repair....

https://www.kitplanes.com/easy-wheelpant-repair/

Pretty typical damage repair and technique. You probably won;lt do the same thing, but you might get some ideas....
 
Scarf

I have an unused wheel pant that I can use to make the patch mold. Is it best to lay the patch on top of the existing pant (with overlap) then fiberglass on top of the patch over it's edge OR cut a clean section out of the damaged pant, and make a patch that pits perfectly INTO that segment and somehow bond them?

Some questions: What type of fiberglass to use? What's the sanding technique? Will I need filler - if so, what kind? I have the RV-8 plans coming to me, so forgive me if Vans outlays this all in there.

I'm no expert either. The easiest and strongest repair is a scarf joint. Cut away the damaged area. Circle is easist to me. Sand from the cut away about an inch or so. You want thin to full thickness. Layup a plug that will fit the hole or just cut the layers so they increase in size from the hole diameter to the edge of the scarf joint. Basically an upside down pyramid. Tape off the inside. I use heavy packing tape. Non sticky side facing the opining then cover with more so it can't fall out. Saturate the patch and apply with peel.ply over. Cure. Sand smooth.
Micro is non structural filler. Used to make a smooth surface.
Flox is structural. If the inside has gaps, use flox to fill.
That's the abridged version. Refer to Dan's Fiberglass thread for more detail.
 
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