To grease or not to grease!

[Chris Evans001]

So the sliding door track top and bottom on my pvc is sounding and looking pretty dry of lubrication. I can see were some kind of grease/lube has been used in the past and it seems like it's time to top it up. I have new rollers all around. I'd like to look after them.

So I google "best grease for sliding door" and up pops various forum posts from another site. Interestingly, quite a few of them (if not most of them on that particular site) state, in no uncertain terms, DO NOT GREASE YOUR SLIDING DOOR TRACK!.. Apparently the roller wheels on the door are designed to roll in the door and not slide. So greasing the track could cause flattening of the roller wheels and further issues including collecting dirt.

Now I don't know if I buy into this. I get that the roller wheels should "roll not slide", but I'm sure I have seen various very new vehicles with a nice bit of sticky lithium grease all over the wheels and track. Surely it would protect all the track and bearings to be nice and greasy!?

Hasn't everyone else seen nice new vehicles with lubricated sliding door rollers? I'm sure I have. Or maybe it gets done on service schedules?

 

[SquirrellCook]

First confirm your theory by visiting a new van dealership. If they are greased you want a waterproof grease, most are not. Morris oils make one and I’m sure others do too.

 

[wildebus]

First confirm your theory by visiting a new van dealership. If they are greased you want a waterproof grease, most are not. Morris oils make one and I’m sure others do too.

Hmmm. That assumes vans in a new dealership are presented correctly. I would have my doubts on that.

 

[Squiffy]

I believe that the idea of the wheels revolving on the track to be correct, that grease begets dust and grit and that although initially it quietens the action over time it will infact compound problems. Most modern wheels are made of nylon and have either a metal insert that revolves round a spindle or a ball bearing race again on a spindle, to my mind the best solution is to throughly clean the channel and clean the wheel perimeters then drip in a light oil or silicone oil into the centre bearing. Phil

 

[Millie Master]

On my Renault Master, the sliding side door must have been opened a zillion times as it is an ex shop fitters van with over 100k under its' wheels and the door used to be quite noisy and quite stiff, however I now use a spray grease quite regularly. Normally before every trip away.
I was concerned about the grit dust problem, but I believe that the spray grease which goes on very thin liquid actually, sorts of washes the nasty stuff off before thickening up as the solvent evaporates.

My side door is now so smooth and easy to use, it being almost a single finger job to use it and there are now next to no rumbly noises from the rollers.

Phil

 

[linkshouse]

Mentioning spray...

I've used silicon spray to great effect on our once sticky roller blinds. I'll give some a bash on our SLD and see how that works out. I'll report back once the deed is done.

 

[linkshouse]

Oops! Really sorry if anyone dashed out and bought silicone spray. I’ve sprayed mine and it isn’t silicon spray it is Rocol dry pterodactyl PTFE spray.

Did it work on the SLD? Well hard to say as it wasn’t stiff to start with. Maybe a bit easier and quieter, but not massively so. But then these things are subjective.

EDIT: it wasn’t pterodactyl spray! Autocorrect does make you smile sometimes.

 

[Chris Evans001]

Like

Oops! Really sorry if anyone dashed out and bought silicone spray. I’ve sprayed mine and it isn’t silicon spray it is Rocol dry pterodactyl PTFE spray.

Did it work on the SLD? Well hard to say as it wasn’t stiff to start with. Maybe a bit easier and quieter, but not massively so. But then these things are subjective.

EDIT: it wasn’t pterodactyl spray! Autocorrect does make you smile sometimes.

Like this sort of thing?

 

[Chris Evans001]

I bought this...

Pretty sure it will do the job. Will also use it on my stiff Windows.



Got some cleaning up to do around the siding door and then will give it a good spray and report back.

Thanks all for the comments and advice.

 

[ScoTTyBEEE]

Top tip, pull your seat belts out and spray them with that silicone spray. Silky smooth operation once more.

 

[SquirrellCook]

Just a warning, silicone spray does seem to attract dirt.

 

[weefish]

My van was ex lease and the rollers were heavily greased. I took it all off and the door worked much better. You can get kits to replace rollers/bearings etc.