No one garage door lubricant suits every part
Shop shelves are full of silicone sprays, lithium greases and all-purpose oils, each sold as the thing your garage door needs. The makers who sell doors and openers here don't name one product for the whole door. They name a treatment for each part, and for the guide tracks, on most doors, that treatment is a clean rather than a coat of anything.
So the manual for your own door and opener comes first. Dominator publishes its owners manuals online and tells owners to check the model number to find the right one.
What the makers name for each part
| What the maker says | Whose advice | |
|---|---|---|
| Roller door guide tracks | Wipe clean with a cloth dampened with mineral turps or methylated spirits. No grease or oil | Dominator's maintenance sheet, Garador and B&D NZ |
| Guides on a roller door with a GDO-6 opener | Silicon spray is the only suitable lubricant | ATA's GDO-6 and GDO-6 V4 EasyRoller manuals |
| Steel hinges | A little all-purpose machine oil | Dominator's maintenance sheet |
| Door rollers, bearings and hinges | Oil once a year, and no grease on the door tracks | Merlin's MJ3800 manual |
| The opener's belt | Needs no lubrication | Dominator |
| Belt, pulley and rail on the MT3850EVO | A light grease once a year, and nothing inside the opener | Merlin's MT3850EVO manual |
| A stiff lock | Powdered graphite, not grease or oil | B&D NZ's care guide |
| Springs, cables and drums | Not for owners to touch | Garador and Dominator |
Silicone spray, grease, oil or WD-40?
WD-40 is the can most people reach for first, and it is the one the makers warn about. B&D NZ says never to use oil-based sprays such as WD-40 in roller door guides, and ATA's EasyRoller manuals rule out WD-40, RP-7 and petroleum grease on the guides as well.
Silicone spray has a narrow job. ATA names silicon spray as the only lubricant suitable for the guides on roller doors driven by its GDO-6 opener. Grease of any kind, white lithium grease included, has no place on the guide tracks in the care advice from Dominator, Garador or B&D NZ.
Oil earns its place in small amounts on metal parts that pivot or spin: the steel hinges in Dominator's routine, and the rollers and bearings that Merlin's MJ3800 manual adds once a year.
How to lubricate a garage door, step by step
Close the door and unplug the opener
Work with the door down and the opener off at the wall, so nobody can run it while your hands are near the tracks or hinges.
Clean the guide tracks
Dominator's maintenance sheet says to wipe the inside of the guide tracks with a cloth dampened with mineral turps or methylated spirits. Garador says to check them for dust and grit while you are there.
Add silicone only if your manual names it
If your opener's manual, like ATA's GDO-6, names silicon spray for the guides, that is the only thing that goes on them. If it names nothing, leave the clean tracks bare.
Oil the metal hinges lightly
A few drops of all-purpose machine oil on each steel hinge is Dominator's whole instruction. Merlin's MJ3800 manual adds the rollers and bearings once a year.
Leave the opener alone
Merlin's MT3850EVO manual says the opener needs no extra lubrication inside, and Dominator's opener manual says the unit must never be sprayed with water. Keep cans and cloths away from it.
Plug in and run the door
Run a full open and close and listen. Then do the monthly reversing test from the garage door safety guide, since you have the door's attention anyway.
Spring lube is not a thing to buy
Springs and cables are not on any maker's list on this page. Dominator says the lifting cables and springs are under extreme tension at all times and are for its trained dealers only, and Garador tells owners not to touch the drums or cables. Spray or no spray, keep your hands away from them.
Still stiff or noisy after lubing?
Then friction probably isn't the problem. Dominator connects a door that has turned hard to open by hand with a decompressed spring, a warped track or a loose cable, and a spray reaches none of them. Springs also weaken with age: B&D NZ says they lose tension naturally over time.
Here is a fair test. Unplug the opener with the door closed and move the door by hand. Dominator's opener warranty expects it to take no more than 20kg of force, and B&D NZ's care guide gives 15kg as the limit for a roller door. If yours is clearly heavier, or it still squeals and scrapes after a clean, book a garage door service, or go to garage door repairs if something looks bent or broken.
Simple garage door maintenance through the year
Lubrication is one small part of looking after a door. B&D NZ suggests checking how the door runs every 6 months and running its safety tests monthly. Dominator asks owners for a yearly check of their own, alongside a service by an experienced technician in the first 12 months and every 2 years after.
Sectional doors have the most moving parts to watch: B&D NZ describes rigid hinged panels running up and back along the ceiling on tracks, balanced by springs. That means more hinges to oil and more rollers to keep an eye on than on a roller door.
Washing belongs in the routine too, more so near the coast, and the rusty garage door guide sets out how often the makers say to do it. Skipping upkeep has a cost: Dominator's manual for its Smart Pro, Smart and Secure openers says failing to maintain the garage door voids the opener's warranty.
Garage door motor maintenance: belt, chain and opener
The opener's drive is where makers differ most. Dominator's belt needs nothing, while Merlin's MT3850EVO wants that yearly light grease, so go by the manual for your model.
If your opener runs a chain, ATA's GDO-6 manual lists lubricating the chain drive, tracks, wheels or cable drum as part of a technician's service, along with setting the opener's travel limits and force. Unless your opener's manual tells you to do it yourself, leave the chain for the service.
Some openers ask for their own upkeep. Dominator's Smart Pro, Smart and Secure openers flash the main light 6 times after a run when maintenance is due after a preset number of cycles, and Dominator says to contact the dealer to book it.
What you can do, and what to leave
You can
- Wipe out the tracks with turps or methylated spirits
- Oil steel hinges with a little machine oil
- Use powdered graphite on a stiff lock
- Move the door by hand every few months to feel its weight
Leave to a door specialist
- Springs, cables and drums
- Chain drives your manual doesn't cover
- Bent tracks and worn rollers
- A door that is still heavy after a clean
What we would do
Buy nothing until you have read the manual for your own door and opener. Photograph the model label on the back of the opener, find that manual on the maker's site, and you'll know whether your tracks take silicone or nothing at all before you spend a cent on sprays.