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Tire pressure when cold recommendation for Model 3

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Murray C.

Member
Oct 4, 2020
33
5
Victoria
#1
I have always kept the pressure (when cold) on all four of the 235/45R18 tires of my 2019 M3 dual motor at 42 psi (290 kPa), as recommended in the manual and on the door jam stickers.

This morning I had the tires rotated at a Tesla facility. When I picked up the car the technician said that they had noted that the tires were under-inflated, and that they had subsequently raised the pressure from 42 psi to 45 psi all round.

The outside air temperature today was approximately 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) - we're easing into autumn. Tread depths are currently 5 - 6 mm, indicating acceptable wear and a reasonable amount of service remaining.

I am planning to lower the cold temp readings back to 42 psi, but I wanted to ask for feedback. What reason could the technician have for recommending the higher pressure?

Thoughts anyone?

Thanks
Murray
 
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#2
Interesting. I've got the same tires, but my car is 2018 and only RWD, but mine specifies 45psi. I suppose later and/or AWD vehicles could be different, but it just may be that the technician is used to 45psi.

Given that the temps are going to get colder as we get later into the year, aren't you going to eventually have to add air anyway? I would probably not worry too much about it, but if it makes you feel better, for sure, lower the pressure to 42.
 
#5
FWIW, my 2019 M3 says 45 PSI on the door frame and on the screen (as of a recent update). I noticed the screen bit when the TPMS went off with the colder weather - my tires had gone down to 38-39.

My concern about the 45 PSI recommendation is that when it was 90+ degrees out, my tires got seriously overinflated (53-55 PSI) while I was driving on the freeway - when I noticed this randomly checking the screen, I pulled over to the shoulder just so I could let some air out, and went to a gas station to properly adjust them. I found that I had to put the "cold" pressure down to around 42 just to keep the tires from exploding.

Not a Tesla-specific problem, really, and I really appreciate that the screen tells me the actual pressures in the tires. I know they say the sensors aren't expected to be super accurate, but they've always been close to my tire gauge's reading.
 
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#6
The tyre pressure recommendation from Tesla (or any other manufacturer) is only a guide. The optimum pressure for any tyre will depend on its construction and operating conditions (load, temperature and speed). Use the recommendation as a starting point and assuming your alignments are all within spec carefully measure (with a tread depth gauge or the thin end of a caliper) the tread depth on the inside, middle and outside of the tread after about 10K miles (15K km).

Differences between the inner and outer measurements on the same tyre indicate alignment problems but if the middle tread depth is greater than either the inner or outer measurement then the tyre is underinflated for its average working conditions and its pressure should be raised by 2 or 3 psi (14 to 20 kPa). Conversely if the middle tread depth is less than either the inner or outer measurements then the tyre is over inflated and its pressure should be reduced by a similar amount.
 
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#7
Quamera said:
The tyre pressure recommendation from Tesla (or any other manufacturer) is only a guide. The optimum pressure for any tyre will depend on its construction and operating conditions (load, temperature and speed). Use the recommendation as a starting point and assuming your alignments are all within spec carefully measure (with a tread depth gauge or the thin end of a caliper) the tread depth on the inside, middle and outside of the tread after about 10K miles (15K km).

Differences between the inner and outer measurements on the same tyre indicate alignment problems but if the middle tread depth is greater than either the inner or outer measurement then the tyre is underinflated for its average working conditions and its pressure should be raised by 2 or 3 psi (14 to 20 kPa). Conversely if the middle tread depth is less than either the inner or outer measurements then the tyre is over inflated and its pressure should be reduced by a similar amount.
Click to expand...
Couldn't have said it better. People seem to focus on this too much. Somewhere on here I saw a person worried that his home pressure monitor was almost 1/2 psi different from what was measured at a service station. :rolleyes:
 
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#8
Murray C. said:
I have always kept the pressure (when cold) on all four of the 235/45R18 tires of my 2019 M3 dual motor at 42 psi (290 kPa), as recommended in the manual and on the door jam stickers.

This morning I had the tires rotated at a Tesla facility. When I picked up the car the technician said that they had noted that the tires were under-inflated, and that they had subsequently raised the pressure from 42 psi to 45 psi all round.

The outside air temperature today was approximately 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) - we're easing into autumn. Tread depths are currently 5 - 6 mm, indicating acceptable wear and a reasonable amount of service remaining.

I am planning to lower the cold temp readings back to 42 psi, but I wanted to ask for feedback. What reason could the technician have for recommending the higher pressure?

Thoughts anyone?

Thanks
Murray
Click to expand...
@Murray C. Excellent question by the way!

Same setup for us here in the Mountains!

WE just had the snows put on and our local tire shop decided to put all our new winter tires up to 45 psi. Not an issue so I decided to reach out to the manager here. Not Tesla but a tire place we TRUST, and a person that runs track tires so take that with a grain of salt.....

He stated that they put the winter tires on a M3LR a bit higher (42 vs 45) knowing that the temps will DROP significantly over the next month.

Is that "optimal" from what Tesla recommends......probably not. HOWEVER, when the temps drop for the next month and over the winter I think it is OK to do that.

Personally, I will see what happens and elect to do tire pressures for our situation. Tesla can't see what is "perfect" for anyone and it is up to any vehicle owner to decide what is "best" for any situation.

We will stay with the "higher" pressures for now....until we find an issue. I KNOW that in a few weeks with colder temps it will average out and we are OK with that for now.

Essentially it depends on how your car "likes" the feel and grip.
 
#11
ColoradoMike said:
He stated that they put the winter tires on a M3LR a bit higher (42 vs 45) knowing that the temps will DROP significantly over the next month.
Click to expand...
Meaning that they know that most people do not check their tire air pressures very often, which means that during autumn, the falling temperatures could leave the tires that are correctly inflated now underinflated a month from now. A slight overinflation in autumn is likely to be less unsafe than the underinflation that can happen by winter.

Of course, if you do check your tire air pressure often and adjust as needed, that does not apply to you.
 
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#12
IMG_95528ADB7621-1.jpeg
 
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#14
Rippin1Gear said:
I don’t believe every M3 owner has this view in their app such as myself with a 2018… believe it might be Bluetooth and/or newer M3s only.
Currently on 14.4.2 app software
Early Beta user.
Click to expand...
My car is a 2020, current car software is 2022.40.4, and current app software is 4.14.2-1411.

Do you see the PSI symbol on the upper right? The PSI doesn’t show automatically; have to press the symbol first.

BD43BFC1-61FF-4476-86B4-CE2BA94321AE.jpeg
 
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#17
The recommended cold tire pressure seen in the app screenshot above and visible in the car Service TPMS summary view on the dash screen are USER configurable and can be set to whatever.

The setting does have default factory values (which differ slightly between legacy and newer Model 3s/Ys) but they can be overriden and set to 3x.xx psi or 5x.xx psi just as easily as being adjusted up or down a few psi from low to mid 40s.

A side-effect of making this adjustment is it also shifts the TPMS under and over-inflated alerts accordingly.

As such, and just as the door card sticker values, they are at best a loose recommendation for OE wheel/tire setup and a particular production period. Within spec but not necessarily your personal spec.
 
#18
Rippin1Gear said:
I don’t believe every M3 owner has this view in their app such as myself with a 2018… believe it might be Bluetooth and/or newer M3s only.
Currently on 14.4.2 app software
Early Beta user.
Click to expand...

It absolutely, positively, 100% has nothing to do with bluetooth / newer model 3s. My Dec 2018 model 3 Performance has this active. Note, however that although I have FSD, I do not, and never will, participate in "FSD beta", which is actually FSD "beta beta" since FSD itself is beta.

Im not trying to bring FSD into every conversation (far from it because I am 100000000% over that conversation), I only mention it because FSD beta firmware doesnt have all the latest features as of my posting this message 11/12, so that might be why you dont have it yet.

It absolutely isnt a vehicle age thing or bluetooth sensor thing for model 3s though.
 
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#19
Perscitus said:
The recommended cold tire pressure seen in the app screenshot above and visible in the car Service TPMS summary view on the dash screen are USER configurable and can be set to whatever.

The setting does have default factory values (which differ slightly between legacy and newer Model 3s/Ys) but they can be overriden and set to 3x.xx psi or 5x.xx psi just as easily as being adjusted up or down a few psi from low to mid 40s.

A side-effect of making this adjustment is it also shifts the TPMS under and over-inflated alerts accordingly.

As such, and just as the door card sticker values, they are at best a loose recommendation for OE wheel/tire setup and a particular production period. Within spec but not necessarily your personal spec.
Click to expand...
Where is it adjusted? I’m not finding that option.
 
#20
First inflate or deflate your tires to a desired new cold tire pressure and proceed to drive a few hundred feet at/around 15-20mph.

This way the TPMS sensors start transmitting updated all-around pressures (but the tires will still be 'cold'), park and in the service menu, reset TPMS.

You will see an option to re-learn, re-set new default cold-tire pressures. Once you do this and proceed to drive again, from that point on, the new cold pressures will be your recommended tire pressures in the car screen GUI and the app.
 
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