I've seen some threads here that speculated about lug nut torque for the M3 with one or two sounding a bit more certain at 129 lb.ft. My M3 now has about 700 miles on it and I'm getting ready for my first road trip in a couple days. So, it's time for a good self service. Uhhh.....well I'm glad to say the only thing to check is wheels and tires. I started by taking a fast look at the condition of the tires. No problems with tread wear or side wall bulges. I have the Aero 18" wheels so I pulled off the Aero "hub caps" and got out my clicker type torque wrench and the 21mm socket required for the lug nuts. I started by setting the wrench to 80 lb.ft. and found that none of the twenty lug nuts would budge before the wrench clicked. Continuing to raise the wrench's setting in 5 lb.ft. increments, none of the nuts moved until 120 lb.ft. when about 1/3 of them moved slightly and all of them moved just barely by 129 lb.ft.
So, I'm satisfied that 129 lb.ft. is the correct setting, but it I would urge Tesla to add that spec to the owners manual to save us all from some potentially disastrous mistakes and we could tell a tire shop the correct torque setting with complete confidence.
So, I'm satisfied that 129 lb.ft. is the correct setting, but it I would urge Tesla to add that spec to the owners manual to save us all from some potentially disastrous mistakes and we could tell a tire shop the correct torque setting with complete confidence.