Rattles, squeals, grinding and bangs each point at a different part. Here is how to read them.
A garage door makes noise for mechanical reasons, and each sound points at a different part. Before you spray anything, stand inside the garage, run the door once, and listen for where the noise comes from.
Almost always dry rollers or hinges. Steel rollers with exposed bearings are the usual culprit, especially on doors more than ten years old. Wipe the track clean with a cloth — never grease the track itself — then apply a lithium or silicone garage door lubricant to the roller stems, hinge pivots, springs and bearing plates.
If the squeal comes back within a fortnight, the roller bearings have worn out. Nylon rollers cost little, run far quieter and are a standard part of any garage door repair visit.
Loose hardware. The vibration of a few hundred cycles backs bolts out of the hinges, brackets and track supports. With the door closed, run a socket over every nut you can reach and snug them — firm, not gorilla-tight, because over-torquing strips the thin steel. Check the opener rail brackets in the ceiling too.
Grinding from the motor head means the opener's drive gear is chewing itself up. Grinding from the top corners of the door means an end bearing plate has failed and the torsion shaft is running dry in the housing. Both need opener repair or bearing replacement; lubricant only buys days.
Stop. A bang like a gunshot, followed by a door that will not lift, is a broken torsion spring. Do not run the opener again and do not try to lift the door by hand — its full weight is now unsupported. This needs spring replacement the same day.
Usually a section that has come loose from its strut, a cable that is slack on one drum, or a door that is binding because the track has shifted. A door that pops as it passes a certain point is often on its way off the track.
In order of effect: a belt-drive opener instead of a chain, nylon rollers instead of steel, fresh bearings, tight hardware, and an insulated door instead of a single-skin steel one. If a bedroom sits over the garage, a belt drive plus nylon rollers is the single biggest improvement you can buy.
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