I've had the same problem with the wheel pants on the original Extra Special 300. I had an extra set of wheel pants from the 80" Yak that I put on my extra and they work great. They are smaller, so you will have to enlarge the wheel opening some. I think they are more scale looking myself.

They have a much larger piece of ply inside them to bolt to, and the fiberglass is thicker.

These aren't bullet proof, but they are much more durable that the originals.

I agree with Tom, if you don't want torn up wheel pants, then don't use any at all.