Should garage door tracks be lubed?

Question

I had understood that one should lube all hinges in a garage door, as well as ensure that the rollers are functional and well lubed (internally at the ball bearings, not at the rollers themselves), but that one should not lube the tracks.

Yet I see an ad for a product to lubricate garage doors with an image suggesting that garage door tracks also should be lubricated. Is this just as a safety precaution in case one of the rollers snags? Is this a rust guard?

Should garage door tracks be lubed? Also, I'm aware that a "water displacement" product is not the right one to use, but I'm unsure whether, say, Lithium or marine grease is better. From experience with the much more delicate bicycles, I suspect the answer to this last part is: "it makes no difference."

Answer 1

I've never encountered anyone who deliberately lubricated overhead door tracks, even having worked alongside a number of professional installers. That's not to say that there's no benefit, but I'm not sure it outweighs the cost and the potential mess. Grease collects dirt and debris and it's more likely to end up on your clothes if it's spread over that much area.

Ideally, movement occurs at and lubricant should be applied to the roller shaft and sleeve connection. There should be relatively little interface movement at the wheel-to-track contact points. The wheel should roll smoothly in the rounded vee at the inner/lower portion of the track. Wheels contain ball bearings and are greased from the factory. Re-greasing them is probably not worth the effort considering the low cost of replacement and the degradation that has probably occurred in the bearings.

If noise reduction is the goal, nylon wheels are an excellent solution. I've recently installed them on my 1992 door as part of a renovation, along with a replacement track upright and two replacement ribs. (The previous owners or their children were rough on my door.) After greasing the wheel shafts and lubricating the hinges it's nearly silent.