Findane the gear leg fairings are designed to reduce drag in flight (DIF). It's important to do it right and this is the reason why. When you fly your airplane at 160 kts for 3 hours in a straight line, any non-symmetrical drag will result in frustration to say the least, cause drag, and reduce airspeed and fuel efficiency. Drilling holes in something should only be done once - (and that is correctly). If you put the leg fairings on and then your airplane needs left or right, up or down trim while in cruise flight, you'll likely not be happy and you'll get mad at yourself for having to repair the holes you've drilled and make new. Van's uses aeronautical engineers with PE (Professional Engineer) licenses to design and write the instructions for building your airplane. They certainly know much more than I. I'm just a school trained A&P, IA with a 4 year degree from a Div I school and 27 years 5 months and 25 days in the Army. And I'm building an RV-8. I've not heard anyone who followed the instructions comment their airplane didn't fly straight. You've invested a lot of your time that you could have spent with your family or friends. You owe it to yourself to do what you think is best.
A PE is no joke. I went to NC State with a guy named Robert Medura and he was my room mate, to say the least, he's the smartest human being I've ever met in my 53 years of life. Robert's dad had a manufacturing plant and made Nuclear Grade vacuum systems. Robert worked for his dad, was majoring in Electrical and Aerospace Engineering at the same time and was the Captain of NC State's NASA research funded walking machine program, the development of NASA's Mars rovers Spirit and Curiosity programs. Robert graduated Suma Cum Laude and 1st in the entire NC State graduating class. The week after graduation, Robert sat for his two PE exams and was awarded his PE.
PE's are the smartest people walking the face of the earth and should get respect especially for something that flys.