Installing the official Tesla model 3 roof rack

[Blue in NC]

Sounds like you had a great time with skiing and using the roof rack. I am wondering if the affected J-bolts are from a certain batch of the roof racks. I ordered mine on 2/7 and received it on 2/11. I noticed the foot pad stickers look smaller than ones I've seen in roof rack installation videos, so I'm wondering if Tesla made some changes in the recent batch of roof rack orders which went out recently.

I got mine at the end of 2018 (Dec 31 I think) so not the first batch but an earlier batch compared to the more recent Feb shipments. I have had the rack off for a month now but I will be carefully inspecting the clips when I re-install and this concern may keep me from using it at all. It would be helpful to know whether there is a correlation with the broken clips being a later batch but either way, not confidence inspiring.

 

[H2Omethodman]

Unhappy to report, mine broke Tuesday. The two j-bold split in half. Tesla Service says they will replace and install the new rack for free, but no ETA. I have also notice a ding and scratch from the unit falling from the car. Glad it didn't shatter the glass roof.

 

[KootsChewt]

Egads! Hadn't thought to check this thread in quite some time and logged into TMC by chance today...

I have not checked my clips to see if still intact - I just completed a 1,000 km road trip on the weekend and probably have about 5 - 6,000 km of highway driving with the pod installed (though mostly secondary highway, 100 km/h or slower). I'll give my rack a shake when I go to the car in the next few minutes.

I did a consumption comparison test New Year's day, which involved taking off the rack and re-installing it - at that time, I used a kitchen scale and some maths to determine 4 Nm. That was quite a bit tighter than I initially installed it at, and I definitely would not have felt comfortable going to 8 Nm.

Edit: just finished reading the other replies to this thread and I'm concerned enough that I'm going to remove the roof box and just leave the naked rack on for the moment until Tesla gives an official response to this. Those photos of snapped hooks looks like cheap casting. I now want something milled or forged, gee whiz! While they are at it, they can fix the stupid design of using an Allen nut; should just be a 'regular' hex nut with a special notch in it for the locking mechanism. I'll be sending them that feedback as well in my email.

My rack appears very solid - did lots of shaking, enough to move the car (as suggested in the manual too)... decided to leave the pod on for the moment. Any metallurgists out there think I am causing a risk by doing this? One thought I've had is that provided I only have one bolt fail at a time (perhaps quite the assumption), the pod will actually keep some torsional rigidity such that the remaining three would hold the pod on for at least a bit... and I will check the rack every few days.

I did email Tesla about my concern first thing this morning, but have not yet heard back.

 

[Blue in NC]

Unhappy to report, mine broke Tuesday. The two j-bold split in half. Tesla Service says they will replace and install the new rack for free, but no ETA. I have also notice a ding and scratch from the unit falling from the car. Glad it didn't shatter the glass roof.

Sorry to hear that. Were the bars loaded up or it just broke with no load?

 

[Lunares]

Welp I've been checking mine every day as a stress test for my tahoe trip tomorrow...and today one of them broke. This is with a yakima fat cat installed but without any skis (for 3 days)

better to find out now than when the skis fly off I guess.

I used a torque wrench and never torqued past ~2.5 Nm. Guess I'm joining you all waiting for a fix.

 

[bmwmkc323i]

Welp I've been checking mine every day as a stress test for my tahoe trip tomorrow...and today one of them broke.

better to find out know than when the skis fly off I guess.

I used a torque wrench and never torqued past ~2.5 Nm. Guess I'm joining you all waiting for a fix.

Oh wow, sorry to hear that. lucky you found this out before your trip though.

Did you have a ski attachment on the rack too when you noticed it broke? Or was it just the bare rack?

 

[Lunares]

Oh wow, sorry to hear that. lucky you found this out before your trip though.

Did you have a ski attachment on the rack too when you noticed it broke? Or was it just the bare rack?

I had purposefully put my yakima fat cat evo on to get a bit more stress (drove 2 days without anything first). No skis in it though. The ski rack was on for two days (so about 4 trips, 80 miles of highway driving to work/back) before the clip broke.

Interestingly enough it was the front crossbar that broke which I didn't hear any cracking on when I installed it. Going to take the rest of them off tomorrow.

wonder if enough of us tweet at Elon we can get an answer through twitter faster

Stephen Wolf on Twitter

 

[KootsChewt]

My rack appears very solid - did lots of shaking, enough to move the car (as suggested in the manual too)... decided to leave the pod on for the moment. Any metallurgists out there think I am causing a risk by doing this? One thought I've had is that provided I only have one bolt fail at a time (perhaps quite the assumption), the pod will actually keep some torsional rigidity such that the remaining three would hold the pod on for at least a bit... and I will check the rack every few days.

I did email Tesla about my concern first thing this morning, but have not yet heard back.

Tesla emailed back saying there is no recall on the rack... but added the caveat that a Service Technician would be best placed to comment on "accessory product information". Anyone know how to email "them"?

Sorry to hear your's broke @Lunares ... remind me again when you got yours? I'm wondering if I have a "good" batch or just lucky so far.

 

[Lunares]

Tesla emailed back saying there is no recall on the rack... but added the caveat that a Service Technician would be best placed to comment on "accessory product information". Anyone know how to email "them"?

Sorry to hear your's broke @Lunares ... remind me again when you got yours? I'm wondering if I have a "good" batch or just lucky so far.

As far as I can tell everyone who had theirs break was part of the recent restock in early Feb and was delivered around 2/10

 

[huangbong]

Tesla online orders is asking me to send the entire rack back... is anyone else doing this? Ideally they could just send our new j-bolts that aren’t made of compacted egg shells...

 

[BAven8068]

Tesla online orders is asking me to send the entire rack back... is anyone else doing this? Ideally they could just send our new j-bolts that aren’t made of compacted egg shells...

They are telling me the same thing, I think it’s crazy that we are required to send the whole thing back, just make stronger clips and send them out to us.

I replied to the email asking if that was really necessary and haven’t heard back. I’m afraid if I don’t send the entire rack back I won’t be placed on any list for replacement clips. The email was very vague on what they were going to do to solve the problem.

 

[bmwmkc323i]

Yeah that is crazy to have to send the whole rack back. I have emailed them a few times already asking if they are aware of this problem and whether or not updated clips will be sent out, but they do not reply back at all. I still haven't installed my rack yet and actually afraid to in fear it may break while I'm on the freeway.

For all you guys that the clip broke, did you hear some rattling while driving and it made you check the rack and find out they were broken?

 

[Neo1974]

I was asked to send the whole rack too, but I since got rid of the box. So not trivial for me to ship it back...

I am getting tired of this and wondering it someone somewhere could not machine/3d print these so that we could finally head to the hills with our cargo box. It is getting a bit ridiculous.

 

[huangbong]

Yeah I’m not trying to send the entire rack back then next week they say they’re sending replacements to everyone and now my rack is gone. And knowing how non responsive Tesla online orders is I get stuck in limbo with no rack for weeks.

 

[Lunares]

Yeah that is crazy to have to send the whole rack back. I have emailed them a few times already asking if they are aware of this problem and whether or not updated clips will be sent out, but they do not reply back at all. I still haven't installed my rack yet and actually afraid to in fear it may break while I'm on the freeway.

For all you guys that the clip broke, did you hear some rattling while driving and it made you check the rack and find out they were broken?

I heard nothing. I just knew about the problem so I checked my rack by pushing on it a bit every time I got in the car.

 

[silentcorp]

Did anyone with a broken clip get anywhere close to the recommended installation for the torque wrench? Could it be that these are actually loose and the movement is causing them to break?

 

[Lunares]

Did anyone with a broken clip get anywhere close to the recommended installation for the torque wrench? Could it be that these are actually loose and the movement is causing them to break?

Other users were reporting breaking on installation (no driving) when torquing to 5Nm or so. Hence why I used a low value.

 

[outdoors]

Did anyone with a broken clip get anywhere close to the recommended installation for the torque wrench? Could it be that these are actually loose and the movement is causing them to break?

Did you check yours post install with a torque wrench from the SC?

I have over 1500 miles now on mine. Have carried a canoe. Has had a Yakima Skybox as well. Loaded up with skis boards and such. Now each day I lift and check. I am part of the newer shipment.

Went to my neighbors house. Used his wrench. Mine came back as being tightend to 7Nm. That's where they will stay.

Any thoughts to body flex of car? Would tend to think or hope not. Design of J hook seems like an afterthought vs. the most important part of the rack.

 

[silentcorp]

Other users were reporting breaking on installation (no driving) when torquing to 5Nm or so. Hence why I used a low value.

Dang, this is a mess! I may avoid using mine on the trip up to Steamboat then.

 

[Lunares]

Did anyone with a broken clip get anywhere close to the recommended installation for the torque wrench? Could it be that these are actually loose and the movement is causing them to break?

On second thought, you could be right.

I went down and torqued my rear crossbar (front crossbar broke) to 7Nm just to see what happened. Was perfectly fine. Also the hex nut absolutely engages significantly more. It's possibly that a lightly torqued bolt puts more stress, not less, on the weak part of the J bracket.

we will have to see what Tesla says.