Great question, I’d like an answer here too.

There is a specific lube called Garage Door Lubricant Spray. You can get it at big box stores, local hardware stores or Amazon. Spray it on the tracks, wheels and most importantly on the spring every 6 months. WD-40 is a water displacer, don't spray it on things that you want lubed.

I've used a dry silicon spray in the past and it has worked well.

Use lithium grease on garage door hinges. Lithium grease adheres well to metal and should perform better than WD-40 over time. Silicon based lubricants are good too, but I'm not sure they'll adhere to metal as well.

Do not use conventional WD-40, as it'll run off. The brand does make a lithium grease in a similar looking spray can, so be sure to check the label.

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I’d imagine graphite

KY Jelly

Depends where you are going to put it

Mine asks for wax.

Use a moly dry film lube for the hinges and chain lube for the chain. Never use grease on an exposed chain, roller, or hinge. Grease will just trap dirt in an open system.

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White lithium grease solidifies into an anti-lubricant after a few years. Don't use that crap on anything!

Edit: downvote me all you want, then go use white lithium grease. In 5 years when it's a crumbly mess remember me and my laugh lol.

Pro Garage door repair guy here.

I recommend 3-in-1 brand garage door lube

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Yea, I’d opt for a dry lubricant. The loading is so low, and garages are potentially exposed to all sorts of dirt, debris, sawdust, mud, and who knows what else, can’t go wrong with graphite

No it's not.

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I have not heard this. Have you had experience with it? Details I’m interested.

K-W doesn't work.

Door. They said door... 😂

This is a great choice. Super Slick is also good

I use it when my step sister is in the dryer though.

No. It does nothing to lubricate the wheels and doesn't penetrate to clean/lube the hinges

Back door

My 2c is that it gathers dirt easily if in an exposed and dirty environment. If it’s sealed or in a generally clean environment it works really well

I can't find any information to back this up. Please provide. I've used white lithium grease for years and years in numerous metal to metal applications with no issue.

Hey garage door guy, should we occasionally lube the spring as well? I keep the chain and hinges lubed, but what about that super intense spring?

Definitely lube the big boy spring!

I used spray grease and it was really good

Yeah, at least once a year. Twice might not be a bad idea if you live somewhere humid close to the ocean with salty air.

I use my bike chain lube.

FYI: WD-40 is not a lubricant, so don't ever use it to lubricate anything.

That company makes lubricants, but WD-40 itself is for cleaning, or specifically water displacement.

Spray grease, white lithium grease, or silicone are all fine, but I personally don't use silicone because it doesn't seem to last as long as the other two. I like lithium grease better in "clean" areas, so not the garage, meaning spray grease is the winner.

I've worked garage doors and could always tell on jobs when people used white lithium grease. It gets caked with dirt over time and gets disgusting. Doesn't do well long term as a lubricant. Just buy garage door lubricant.

I've had experience with white lithium since I was 10 years old. I'm over 40 now. I've used it at home and at work. After 5 or so years the stuff is dry and crumbly and sticky. I still have to clean this crap out and relubricate parts at work once in a while because they used it for a few years, as they didn't believe me when I told them not to use it.

What are the other 2 uses for garage door lube?

Back and Access Doors

They make specific garage door grease. Seek some out.

WD 40 to clean the area. Re grease the chains.

PTFE spray grease

The only information I have is over 30 years of personal experience with the stuff at home and at work.

Edit:. Actually if you Google "Does white lithium grease dry out" and ignore the articles from the manufacturers of white lithium grease there's plenty of stuff talking about how it dries out.

I parsed this as "garage floor" and I was so confused.

It's been creaking when the temperature drops below the 30s? Huh? What? Even then, you don't lubricate a squeaky floor, you secure it.

I too read “floor” and thought I’d probably just use the same lube we use in any other place in the house.

My garage door was squeaking bad for too long and I went on Amazon and looked up garage door lubricant and this was the top result. Worked great!

I'll back him with 25 years of automotive servicing experience. White grease is great for things like where a steering shaft exits the body through a rubber boot. Or power seat mechanisms where it won't react with the rubber and quiets the movement. But it will harden, and it collects dirt and dust and hardens to slightly crusty, hard "wax". This takes years but it will build up if continuously applied. The biggest problem area on cars is the hood latch; Shops spray the latch thinking they're lubing it. They're actually helping fill the latch with dirt and that causes them to not work. I remove the latch, clean it in a varsol bath, and lubricate it with a light oil. Fixed.

In controlled environments like inside a car, or inside a machine, it's great. Garage doors are outside. I'd use it on the overhead spring because there's nothing there to get jammed up. But not the wheels. 3 in 1 or Light Machine oils.

Spray or paste? Very different stuff. The spray is already pretty dry when it comes out.

Too afraid to get close to that monster

Used motor oil

No good on the front, huh?

non grease lubricant

For those saying to lube the springs - that only applies to the newer torsion springs.

If you have an older door with the "regular" springs located on each side of the door - lubing those does nothing but make a mess! lol

Can I tack on a question here? We moved to an older House (1968) that has two single garage doors. Not sure how old the openers are but they are Genie. One of them is very loud when opening/closing and has a definite clunk when it’s done (not sure if when opening, closing or both). Could this just be an older opener causing it (wouldn’t want to spend the $ to replace and find out it wasn’t that) or something else? I believe my husband lubricated it (not sure what part) but still very loud. My office is above it and it goes right through my spine every time it’s operated. Thanks!!

"Garage Door Lube" from 3-in-One. It's available at most hardware stores.

I know it sounds obvious, but I only discovered it myself a few years ago. It is kind of messy so you might pull your car out first, even masking areas if you are really uptight about over spray.

Nope, throws off the pH

Ketchup

If it is a genie screw drive opener then a low temp grease would be better on it to quiet it down

If you look up from underneath your opener and there is a long threaded shaft that moves the trolley (the piece that the j-bar is attached to) it could very well be your opener. I really don't like the design of that opener.

You could try disconnecting your trolley by pulling the string and then move the door by hand by pulling the j-bar, if it doesn't make the sound when doing that it's likely your opener.

I recommend a belt drive opener for a quieter experience. Replacing the rollers with nylon rollers with ball bearings will also help.

You win.

Newer openers are a lot quieter. It's quite possible that you could make your current one quieter with a relatively simple repair, but even in its best shape, it won't have the performance of newer models.

Given your home office situation, I think that would be well worth it.

I'm going to incur some wrath here, but I'd say start with some WD-40 the first time (as a penetrating oil to loosen up the neglected parts) cycle the door a few times and actually jog it sideways a bit to get the roller stems free in their mounts, then follow with lubricant. After that just periodic lubricants will be fine.

Source: Experiments on a relative's nearly-rusted-solid garage door hardware in the northern midwest.

Silicone based lube

That's incorrect. WD-40's website says that it is a lubricant and can be used as one. It was originally designed as a water displacer by combining several lubricants and adding volatiles to help penetration.

It has some downsides as a lubricant - the volatiles make it thin so it's not a very long-lasting lubricant. And the soil removers in it tend to create black streaks after some time. But it's still a fine short-term lubricant for many things. It's poor for garage doors because you want something long lasting, so I would agree with your recommendations, but wanted to correct the info on WD-40.

FYI: you're right and you're wrong.

WD-40 isn't a very good lubricant, so recommending other things is totally justified. But it is a lubricant. It's a mix of light oils, along with the water-displacing solvents and corrosion inhibitors. It was designed as a multi-purpose product. One of those purposes absolutely was lubrication.

WD-40 is actually a cleaner. It's commonly thought of as lubrication but it's a cleaner that leaves a bit of residue like a lubricant.

In the comments, a garage guy suggested a product so I would give that a lot of weight.

Personally, I've used a spray form of white lithium grease I got at Home Depot.

I’ve heard one snap - it’s terrifying

Yes they both look like that. The openers themselves are different though. Interestingly, the louder one looks to be a newer style opener - its casing is grey and the other one is maroon. I could get model #s but not at the moment. I’ve definitely seen the quiet ones before and they are great - it’s just a question of $$ with all the other many surprises we’ve had since moving here ugh.

Where do you apply the grease? Thanks!

Should be a track that the carriage rolls through on the real, the whole bottom of it, also the cover can get loose screws causing the plastic to vibrate

I needed work done on my door. They were very clear: go with the one that says “garage door lube”

Thank you

Most of my experience is with the spray stuff, from many manufacturers. I'm not sure if I've used non-spray stuff.

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I think you've got this backwards. Grease is exactly what you want in open systems. Yes it does trap particles, but it moves them away from wear surfaces. Think differentials and drivetrain components. The only downside is you eventually lose grease and have to refill. In closed systems we generally prefer oils with a filter system. Think car engines. I do like dry lubes for chains, but grease has been the traditional answer for open systems for a long time. Grease will be just fine for a garage door.

For the love of God don't do that. People who do this are universally hated by repair techs.

Garage door lube. A silicone spray. 10w30. Gun oil. Whatever you got really.

Don't use grease. Don't cover everything with fucking used motor oil. People who do that suck.

No hate, this is one of the better options to start with, though I would add look for the silicone specialist wd-40 for something like a garage door

Just fixed my garage door in 20 mins after this post. Thanks!

Well, the good news is they're not broken, so you have time to decide what you're going to do in the future regarding replacement of the openers. A quality belt drive opener can be bought for $230-260 and you can install it yourself. Until you decide what you want to do, it's going to continue to be a bit noisy in your house a few times a day.

Keep in mind, a quality opener should last 20 years with no problems, and you'll use it several times a day, every day. so take this into consideration long term before you decide what you're going to do

"WD40" means "The fortieth formulation we've tried for the purpose of shooting it into an oil well and occupying the space where the oil had been; must do this better than water just seeping into a void; in fact, must specifically do this better than water."

The actual lithium grease is the consistency of a soft butter. It's very... greasy, for lack of a better word. I doubt it would dry out. That's the stuff you want for lubricating things properly. The spray stuff is a stopgap or for lubricating really hard to reach areas, in my experience.

Most automotive greases for joints etc. are a lithium base if I'm not mistaken.

Thanks. This is helpful!

You can get something that sprays and do it from the floor. They're loud if they break, but the real danger is when they're being wound or unwound - they'll have no problem snapping an arm in half.

It's pretty damn loud!

Silicon based

What is your recommendation for a lubricant that doesn’t drip, and picks up less dirt than a grease, and lasts longer?

Anything at all - even vegetable oil - is better than just letting it sit so long as it can get into the moving surfaces. So many people just ignore this stuff.

I have to respectfully disagree. Yes, oil is great in closed systems with tight tolerances, crank shafts, and transmission gear meshes. Grease is better left to closed systems or in applications where the grease exposed to dirt will not be able to work its way back onto the wear surfaces. Think of pins that hold hydraulic cylinders at pivot points or driveshaft joints. I would absolutely never put grease on an exposed chain or roller, as a dry lube or chain oil will be much better.

Edit: If it has a grease zerk, then grease it. For most other things, there is probably something better

I'm not sure what the best for your garage door opener is. I don't have a garage door so I never researched it. I just know you don't want to use white lithium spray lubricant.