19" Conti's @ 42psi = not great traction (?)

[DR61]

Someone who has taken delivery already might want to experiment with gradually lowering pressure (maybe 2 psi at a time) on a tire until the car issues a low pressure warning. That would be an indication of the psi that the engineers consider the lowest safe value.

 

[fazluke]

Michelin Pilot Super Sports? Look on Tirerack.com and see what's available for the 3.

Model 3 is not listed under Tesla at tirerack.com.

 

[dhanson865]

Model 3 is not listed under Tesla at tirerack.com.

Until they add it you can manually search tires by size. The sizes are:

235/40/19
235/45/18

OEM tires are 96 load rating in the 19" and 98 load rating in the 18" (don't go less than the OEM 19" load rating). They also are W speed rated (switching to V speed rating cuts your safe top speed from 168 mph to 149 mph). The Model 3 tops out at 140 mph so I don't see any reason to avoid the V speed rating.

 

[Skryll]

I agree that seems to be a very high stock pressure recommendation, as it's up there with pressures run at the track, and could have a lot too do with the stiff ride complaints.

For comparison, my Boss Mustang on lower profile 19s which weighs about the same as the Model 3 only recommends 36psi.

I'd really like to know why Tesla sets them so high. It's not like the car is range challenged! I wish they weren't so damned secretive some times!

I was wondering about the same thing. The 18s on my model 3 are set to 45, and I wondered if lowering to 42 would improve things. I'll keep it as is for now, not past the 500 mile break in period yet