Wayne, I tend to agree with you on the wire gear and wheel pants. I just realized that all my wheel pants are on aluminum gear because I hate wire landing gear. Even changed my Midget Mustang from wire to aluminum gear. I have only one plane with wire gear and it has no wheel pants.
On the planes that have aluminum landing gear and wheel pants, the wheels pants are not screwed the aluminum landing gear but are held on the axles with the Sig wheel pant mounts which have set screws. I grind a flat area on the bottom of the axle for the set screws so they don't rotate. Once in awhile if the wheel pant takes a hit the plastic housing of the wheel pant mount will break. That little bit of give usually saves the wheel pant. I just remove the broken mount and replace it.

Will it work with the wire landing gear? I think so but the flex in wire gear could be a problem. The flex and the fact that planes with wire landing tend to nose over easier would make it more difficult!! I think I'll have to try that sometime to so see if it will work with wire landing gear. Thanks for the input. Tom