Alarming news installing the roof rack on my model 3. Tightening it up to less than 3nm or 20 in-ft which is the minimum my torque wrench would go, I hear some cracking noise and decide to stop and let the service center finish the installation. They found out one of the clips connecting the front rail of the rack to the roof snapped. Later in the evening I hear a loud crack and one of the back clips snaps as well.
Chatting with Tesla they will send replacement clips, but it makes me think if this setup is reliable enough and we won't be seeing racks flying off cars in the near future. One thing I'm sure of, the 8nm torque spec in the instructions is too high.
I signed up just to add this exact same thing happened to me at around 50 in lbs. Hoping Tesla can quickly replace the clips and provide better guidance. I am curious if somehow the clips weren’t aligned properly given where clips broke I’m surprised that was force was applied in that direction during tightening.
I guess everyone should be hand tightening the nuts for now and stopping as soon as you hear cracks.