The Corvette curse continues. Be it 2020, 2021, or 2022 C8s, there always seems to be plant closures and supplier issues. Or both. Such is the case with the 2022 Corvette. Defective wheels have idled many completed Corvettes, but didn’t this happen before?

C8 Corvette owners are being notified

Yes, it did. And now C8 owners are getting notices from GM that it may have happened to their 2022 models. The Corvette National Museum says certain Corvettes “are part of a large batch needing a wheel replacement. We are working diligently to get the proper wheels from the supplier.” 

Why is the Corvette Museum involved in this? Some buyers are taking part in the Corvette National Museum delivery program. On some Corvette forums, they’ve been told that their cars are fully built but they can’t be delivered. They must reschedule because the delivery date is now pushed back. 

Last March we told you about defective wheels showing up on C8 Corvettes. The defective castings had tiny hairline cracks in them. Obviously, this could lead to a wheel failure and an accident. So GM recalled the cars and replaced them. Now, it’s happened again.

GM’s defective wheel statement

Some customers that are waiting for their cars have been told they’ll be waiting a little longer. A statement from GM, “We can confirm that a small percentage of vehicles are being held at the factory for a wheel-related quality hold. Manufacturing has been working quickly to resolve the issue and affected vehicles are expected to ship by the end of the month.” According to some forums, both the standard Open Spoke and the Trident wheel designs have cracks. 

Besides the current Corvette wheel problems, GM has a bad history with Corvette wheels of late. A class-action lawsuit has been filed over wheels on 2015-2019 Z06 Corvettes and 2017-2019 Grand Sport Corvettes. The lawsuit alleges that the cast wheels can’t hold up to the torque and power. 

This just keeps happening

It suggests that the wheels should be forged and not cast. Forged wheels are more expensive, but even these cast wheels aren’t cheap. When a wheel does give up, it can cost over a thousand dollars each to replace them. 

The most common complaint has been over the wheels warping, which then flattens the tire. Under certain conditions, it can become life-threatening. So GM wants to make sure it gets the current wheel problem handled well before these cars are shipped. 

It is obviously aware of the safety aspects. And it is aware of the optics, should a second lawsuit over different wheels be filed. But that Corvette curse just doesn’t seem to let up.