By Shawn Henry 
A C8 Corvette driver’s dream of smooth, worry-free ownership hit a serious snag after GM slapped his warranty claim with a big “nope” over what seemed like a microscopic red flag spotted during a routine fix.
Back in November, the guy noticed one of his steering wheel buttons had checked out—totally dead, no matter what tricks he tried to jolt it back to life. Figured it’d be a no-brainer under warranty, right? So he rolls into a Chevy dealer, expecting a quick swap.
Here’s where things got messy. Sure, he’d bought the ‘Vette used, but straight from a Chevy dealer, complete with that fancy GM Platinum Warranty he shelled out extra for. Car was pristine, stock as they come, barely 12,000 miles when he got it. But during the checkup, techs spotted something fishy: red Loctite clinging to bolts inside the steering wheel. Yeah, that stuff’s standard for keeping nuts and bolts from rattling loose, but not here, apparently. Their verdict? Somebody had been poking around in there before.
So much for a simple button fix. Suddenly, it’s a full-blown steering wheel replacement—backordered, naturally—and the warranty claim? Denied. The owner’s furious, swearing he knows the previous owner and that nobody tinkered with the thing. Doesn’t matter. That tiny dab of threadlocker was all GM needed to twist the screws on approval.
Corvette forums lit up over this mess. Turns out, dealers can flag whatever they want in the inspection notes, but the final call rests with the warranty bigwigs. Once there’s a whiff of aftermarket tampering, good luck getting them to cough up the cash.
Now the guy’s staring down a $1,700 bill for a new wheel, and he’s not backing down without a fight. Meanwhile, the whole debacle’s got ‘Vette owners side-eyeing their warranties, dealer trustworthiness, and how something as small as a misplaced drop of glue can blow up into a full-on showdown when the repair bills land.
John