Garaging your car over winter

[Palooka99]

Last Sunday I walked into the garage, about to take my 911 for a pre-snow spin (it had been tucked away with the dehumidifer on and trickle charge going) and to my horror discovered that in the night the door spring had snapped, and in the process the 2lb spring had clouted the rear wheel arch, scratching the paint and denting the wing (not a big dent but you know what it is like when there is any dent!). You can imagine my horror! Anyway, the reason for the post is to suggest that if you are tucking your pride and joy away - you maybe inspect your garage door springs (kinks would indicate a future problem) and cables for fraying (plus oil the door pivot points to put less stress on the other components) - especially if you have one like mine that has the spring fully tensioned when the door is shut. Luckily the scratches have almost totally polished out and Dent Devils got the dent out (amazing work). 2 new springs and cables have been fitted. I did contact Garador to see if they would consider contributing towards any of these costs - but they said anything outside the 2 year warranty would not be considered, which I suppose is fair enough.

[CraigyMc]

Palooka99 said:

Last Sunday I walked into the garage, about to take my 911 for a pre-snow spin (it had been tucked away with the dehumidifer on and trickle charge going) and to my horror discovered that in the night the door spring had snapped, and in the process the 2lb spring had clouted the rear wheel arch, scratching the paint and denting the wing (not a big dent but you know what it is like when there is any dent!). You can imagine my horror! Anyway, the reason for the post is to suggest that if you are tucking your pride and joy away - you maybe inspect your garage door springs (kinks would indicate a future problem) and cables for fraying (plus oil the door pivot points to put less stress on the other components) - especially if you have one like mine that has the spring fully tensioned when the door is shut. Luckily the scratches have almost totally polished out and Dent Devils got the dent out (amazing work). 2 new springs and cables have been fitted. I did contact Garador to see if they would consider contributing towards any of these costs - but they said anything outside the 2 year warranty would not be considered, which I suppose is fair enough.

This messsage brought to you by your local friendly garage door repair man.



C

[GoneAnon]

Is there any way to run a nylon rope up the inside of the spring and secure it at each end? (length needs to match the fully-stretched spring, obviously)

With that in place, even if the spring snaps, it can't go anywhere or do any damage.

[kambites]

Roller doors don't have springs.

I guess you should be thankful it didn't snap when you were opening or closing the door from the inside - it could have done much worse to your arm than the scratch it did to the car.

Edited by kambites on Sunday 13th January 10:57

[danyeates]

CraigyMc said:

Palooka99 said:

Last Sunday I walked into the garage, about to take my 911 for a pre-snow spin (it had been tucked away with the dehumidifer on and trickle charge going) and to my horror discovered that in the night the door spring had snapped, and in the process the 2lb spring had clouted the rear wheel arch, scratching the paint and denting the wing (not a big dent but you know what it is like when there is any dent!). You can imagine my horror! Anyway, the reason for the post is to suggest that if you are tucking your pride and joy away - you maybe inspect your garage door springs (kinks would indicate a future problem) and cables for fraying (plus oil the door pivot points to put less stress on the other components) - especially if you have one like mine that has the spring fully tensioned when the door is shut. Luckily the scratches have almost totally polished out and Dent Devils got the dent out (amazing work). 2 new springs and cables have been fitted. I did contact Garador to see if they would consider contributing towards any of these costs - but they said anything outside the 2 year warranty would not be considered, which I suppose is fair enough.

This messsage brought to you by your local friendly garage door repair man.



C

Interesting though. Not something I'd have thought of checking. I will grease it all up tonight.

[Ozzie Osmond]

I eturnes from holiday one year to find the garage door spring broken. Contacted the garage door companies all of whom said "Out of production years ago. Needs a whole new door mate ££££".

So I removed spring; mailed it to an expert springs company up North; they repaired it; I refitted; job done.
Cost? Astoundingly they only charged me £12 to repair the spring! Well pleased with that.

[Palooka99]

Some interesting comments, many thanks! But would just like to say I am not a garage door repair man (although my post on second reading might suggest that!). I think a roller door would avoid the risk, but the electric type mount on the inside and lose you about 5-6" space, with my car there is only 1" either end so not an option. The piece of rope inside the spring sounds like a good idea!

[kambites]

You can mount roller doors anywhere: inside shortens the garage a bit; outside looks a bit strange and isn't as secure; and actually putting it in the gap makes the opening about 15cm narrower, so all have their down-sides.

They aren't cheap, anyway.

Edited by kambites on Sunday 13th January 14:02