Thanks for upvote, I too just thought that it was just me being a bad shot, but it seems that the PCML seems to always damage wheels first before anything else, even marshals and marids can survive a side hit with just one or two lost wheels and keep on going without any other systems getting damaged.
The relatively lowish flight profile of the rocket makes short ranged shorts even more likely to result in wheel hits with no major damage on anything with more armor than an MRAP.
if anyone is downvoting please leave a reason why, thanks