The Right Parts for Your Garage Door

Choosing Reliable Rollers

While the panels form the main structure of automatic garage doors, the hardware parts are responsible for its smooth movement and hassle-free operation. While the springs and cables are the primary components that you need to consider, you should never underestimate the importance of the rollers. They are attached to the panels - each stem is held in place by a hinge. The wheels of the rollers are inside the track. This is how they help to guide the door up and down during opening and closing. There are rollers with stems and wheels made from steels and ones which come with nylon wheels. The latter ones don’t require lubrication and produce less noise when moving along the tracks. However, they are not as durable as their counterparts made entirely from steel.

The Best Hinges

The hinges hold the panels together. The ones on the sides of the door house the rollers. Ideally, these components should be made from heavy-duty galvanized steel, which is resistant to rust and corrosion. The 16-gauge models are fine and the 14-gauge ones are perfect. Stronger hinges are more resistant to bending, which is a fairly common problem with these components. Generally, if such an issue occurs, timely repair or replacement will prevent breaking. Worn hinges should be replaced as soon as possible. You can tell when they get fully worn. The cylinders holding the roller stems will become oval and you will hear strange squeaky sounds. Just like metal rollers, these hardware parts require lubrication.