Overhead Door Spray Grease

[Boomer]

I have two cans of this stuff that I use to spray the tracks on my garage door about every two years. It is a thick heavy yellowish grease that is carried out of the spray can with a volatile petroleum liquid which evaporates to leave the grease. The label on the can notes that it is "water resistant." This got me to thinking (no rude comments, please!)....would this stuff make a good rust proofing material? Has anybody ever tried using it for this purpose?

 

[Duffyjr]

I can't answer your question about rust proofing but can you please give me the name of the product you are spraying in the tracks. I haven't had any luck lubricating the tracks, even with Blaster garage door lubricant which is suppose to work just like the product you are describing.

 

[FT92]

i had a new garage door installed about two years ago and the installers told me never grease the tracks, that it will attract dirt /dust and in the long run will affect the roller...greasing the hinges ok. I don't know, just what they told me

 

[kschachn]

i had a new garage door installed about two years ago and the installers told me never grease the tracks, that it will attract dirt /dust and in the long run will affect the roller...greasing the hinges ok. I don't know, just what they told me

True, you lubricate the rollers and hinges, not the track.

 

[wpod]

i had a new garage door installed about two years ago and the installers told me never grease the tracks, that it will attract dirt /dust and in the long run will affect the roller...greasing the hinges ok. I don't know, just what they told me

Grease doesn't attract dust the dust clings to the grease. You want the roller to roll in the tracks.

 

[JohnnyG]

I use LPS 3 and it sounds very much like what you are using. I use it on my garage door spring and rollers, but the only track I use it on is the "slider" along which the trolley moves.

I also use it outdoors on the clip at the end of our dog's leash. It last a very long time, like maybe 6 months while outside in the rain and the harsh environment of the ocean mist we get here.
I'd say it would work very well as a rustproofing material, especially in hidden areas like door, hood, and trunk lid seams.
It doesn't retain much of an odor either.

 

[JHZR2]

True, you lubricate the rollers and hinges, not the track.

So I’ve heard, but every garage door in any house I’ve lived in…. All old homes from the 20s… have always had grease in there. All old, old tracks and doors.

 

[kschachn]

So I’ve heard, but every garage door in any house I’ve lived in…. All old homes from the 20s… have always had grease in there. All old, old tracks and doors.

Yeah I’ve seen it too. Sometimes it’s because the rollers have seized and rather than replace them they grease the track instead. Or the grease migrates out of the bearings over time and coat the track surface. Using higher quality sealed bearing rollers helps with both of those.

 

[Boomer]

You are all correct. I wrote in haste. I spray the rollers and the pins, not the track.

The name of the product is "Overhead Door Multi-Purpose Spray Lube" and I bought it from the guys that installed the doors when we built the house. It notes "All Weather - Water Resistant" on the front label. The cans each contain 6 ounces of material. It is a low viscosity when sprayed. It contains LPG, acetone, and heptane so spraying it on a painted surface may not be the best idea because of the acetone. I would want to try it on a hidden area first.

 

[PimTac]

So I’ve heard, but every garage door in any house I’ve lived in…. All old homes from the 20s… have always had grease in there. All old, old tracks and doors.

Our garage from the twenties had swing out wooden doors. A dab of grease on the hinge pins did the trick.

Then there was the standard swing up door assisted by springs. Those doors did get grease in the tracks as I recall.

Now with automatic doors the rollers and particularly the bearings in the rollers get the shot of grease. Modern doors are much lighter and counterbalanced with a torsion bar in most cases.

 

[JHZR2]

Yeah I’ve seen it too. Sometimes it’s because the rollers have seized and rather than replace them they grease the track instead. Or the grease migrates out of the bearings over time and coat the track surface. Using higher quality sealed bearing rollers helps with both of those.

I’ve also been amazed at rollers that are from the 1950s that work great with just some Ed’s red and spray grease…

 

[JHZR2]

Our garage from the twenties had swing out wooden doors. A dab of grease on the hinge pins did the trick.

Then there was the standard swing up door assisted by springs. Those doors did get grease in the tracks as I recall.

Now with automatic doors the rollers and particularly the bearings in the rollers get the shot of grease. Modern doors are much lighter and counterbalanced with a torsion bar in most cases.

My parents garage had those doors - changed in the 1950s to a roll-up. Both of my same era garages also had roll up doors fit in those timeframes, with the signs of old slide and swing out doors if one looks…

All my doors (two regular size, two oversized) have the extension springs. The two oversized doors required special order springs.

You’re saying the doors like this did require grease in tracks??

 

[Duffyjr]

Or the grease migrates out of the bearings over time and coat the track surface.

Pretty sure this is what happened to me but before I realized it I added more lubricant to the track, I don't even remember what type lube since it happened shortly after we moved in in 1989 plus it was my first garage with an opener. Worked great for a while then it started jerking bad the last couple feet on the way down, so bad in fact it made the top roller come out of the track.

I used WD40 to clean the tracks and wiped as much of the WD40 up as I could. After that all I had to do was take a clean rag every couple years and clean the tracks. I have the springs on each side like the pic above as well as the rollers pictured about that, house was built in the 50's and I'm sure it's all original.

My problem now is the pulleys that the cable runs on are shot, I have to keep spaying Blaster on them.

 

[PimTac]

You’re saying the doors like this did require grease in tracks??

The ones I saw had grease in them. Whether that was required or not I don’t know. Removing the rollers and doing the soak as mentioned above was probably the better way.

 

[benjy]

ceramic rollers are CHEEP so why bother i they are bad. i replaced several OE rollers where ball bearings fell out + the door works great!! in fact too good as i needed to adjust the torsion bar spring, a PITA IMO!!

 

[JHZR2]

ceramic rollers are CHEEP so why bother i they are bad. i replaced several OE rollers where ball bearings fell out + the door works great!!

Ceramic???!?

I’ve seen nylon ones with higher ball count. Not ceramic. Intrigued…

 

[Freischneider]

I use WD-40 specialist gel lube. It's been a year now and it's still clinging there. The only downside is that it stinks up the garage for about a week.

 

[PimTac]

I use WD-40 specialist gel lube. It's been a year now and it's still clinging there. The only downside is that it stinks up the garage for about a week.

I have a can of their lithium grease spray. The stuff works great on everything I’ve used it on so far, automotive, household, etc.

The WD-40 Specialist products are good.

 

[Silver]

Chain lube works well. It's a grease with a carrier that evaporates.

My favorite has always been Silkolene.

 

[Ed in Tx]

In 1997 when I had my overhead garage door installed the installer told me to occasionally lubricate the coiled springs above the door and they "would never fail". There are two coiled springs in my case. It's a big door, 10 ft tall by 18 ft wide. I've done that ever since usually using Remington Rem-oil Spray Lube with Teflon. Have never had one break or fail. 25 years of service so far. Goes up and down several times a day. I've tried lubrcating the tracks too, but ended up cleaning that out because of the dust and dirt. The rollers are supposed to roll, not slide.