I haven't even touched vWii yet. Afaik the only incriminating evidence on the console is the tubehax DNS setting and some browser bookmarks, so no actual software modification, I don't know whether they could get away with using that as an excuse to not repair. Also I should be able to remove them first if I borrow someone else's gamepad.
I'm still hoping I can get away with just sending in the gamepad, especially if I tell them I've proved the console works with a borrowed gamepad. We'll see I guess.