Lubricant for Glass Sliding door tracks ?

Lubricating the tracks is like oiling the skating rink hoping for longer coast times. You need to oil the bearing that are riding on the tracks.

Rich

I haven't tried it, but what about graphite. Seems that it would be OK....

Sounds good. How do you get to them? Aerosol?

Hi, I wonder why people think WD-40 is lubricant? It's a cleaning solvent. I'd try little bit of white grease(Luriplate) or squirt of liquid wrench (Teflon).

Graphite will make a gunky mess. Any lubricant is the wrong approach. The door needs to be fixed properly meaning it must be removed from the track the rollers replaced. It should be done soon as more wear can ruin the track completely.

Thanks for all the ideas. I have in fact tried liquid wrench, but it wears off after a week or two.

I have not yet tried graphite, and had not thought of it. I think that I will give that a try. I wonder if the powder or liquid graphite would do best ?

Keep the comments coming !!

James

I've used powdered graphite on a couple of similar things. I got a 12 ounce squeeze bottle at the local True Value. Pretty cheap as I remember. Don't know why a previous poster mentioned that it would make a goopy mess. It's dry. Unless your door is really exposed to the weather, the graphite should stay dry too....

ditto,

If the rollers stall and tear up the track your problems are just starting.

If the door is scraping the track, you may be able to just raise it up higher by adjusting the rollers. There's a hidden screw in the hole at the bottom at aach end. CW is up, iirc.

My parents had a sliding glass door at their house - when they bought the house it was in really bad shape and would barely slide. The eventual fix was not only replacement of any suspect rollers but renewing the lower track. Somewhere my dad found a stainless U-channel for just this purpose, it would snap over the existing track and provide a new, smooth (and harder than the original aluminum) surface for the rollers to ride on. The original track was so badly worn that we had to fill the stainless U-channel with something - I don't remember what, but possibly silicone? - to make up the difference in areas where the rollers actually rode. Worked beautifully with no maintenance until maybe 10-15 years later when they decided to replace the sliding door with new french doors.

nate

Liquid wrench is made with teflon? Are you sure?

They make a version with a hint of teflon... It's all just marketing hype though.

It's still not a lubricant.

Silicon Spray. It doesn't attract dirt and has no chemical residue. Much the same as powdered graphite. & on that note, make sure your door rollers are properly adjusted. #1 cause of hanging sliders. #2 is dirt/foreign objects in the tracks. Never ever use oil based products, such as WD-40. They attract & HOLD dirt particles.

Dan

Silicone.

Just what is in your imagination about this stuff?

It's a type of oil, you know, just not a mineral, animal, or vegetable oil. Certainly it attracts dirt. And if you don't have any residue of it, then what exactly is the point?

Many "silicone" sprays are 99 percent mineral spirits and other hydrocarbon stuff with a whiff of actual silicone oil. That's why it doesn't attract dirt or leave a residue: it just evaporates after making you feel better.

Sorry, what was I thinking. A door exposed to weather? How silly of me. (head hanging with shame)

Besides, that graphite will add a nice sheen to the floors as it gets tracked in.

YMMV, but all my silders are under a VERY big "eve," I know I spelled that wrong/. Anyway, they get no moisture, really, and I am in Oregon's Rain Forest. Again, as I say, it may be different for you, that's why i made my disclaimer, but in this area all exterior doors in any quality built place are quite protected....

Remove the door from the track and frame. Clean the track with liquid soap and water. Use a toothbrush or similar to get all the debris out. Lay the door on its side. Place something under it to catch any liquid and solid debris. Clean with petroleum distillate. Air dry. Lube the wheel centers with light oil or graphite. Hang the door. Do similar procedure with screen door if you have one. Repeat the procedure as needed when door starts sticking again. If anything is found damaged, replace it. If the door is not adjusted properly, too low or misaligned, correct it. Dave

It sure beats oil based lubricants such as WD-40 by miles. Experience alone, living in a desert w/sand/dirt for 20+ yrs. indicates otherwise.

Really? An OIL? Then how do you describe/ascribe to the following? I'm not aware of ANY OIL that will sustain 5905 degrees F to a boil point!

Silicon Atomic Number: 14 Atomic Weight: 28.0855 Melting Point: 1687 K (1414°C or 2577°F) Boiling Point: 3538 K (3265°C or 5909°F) Density: 2.3296 grams per cubic centimeter Phase at Room Temperature: Solid Element Classification: Semi-metal

History and Uses:

Silicon was discovered by Jöns Jacob Berzelius, a Swedish chemist, in 1824 by heating chips of potassium in a silica container and then carefully washing away the residual by-products. Silicon is the seventh most abundant element in the universe and the second most abundant element in the earth's crust. Today, silicon is produced by heating sand (SiO2) with carbon to temperatures approaching 2200°C.

Two allotropes of silicon exist at room temperature: amorphous and crystalline. Amorphous appears as a brown powder while crystalline silicon has a metallic luster and a grayish color. Single crystals of crystalline silicon can be grown with a process known as the Czochralski process. These crystals, when doped with elements such as boron, gallium, germanium, phosphorus or arsenic, are used in the manufacture of solid-state electronic devices, such as transistors, solar cells, rectifiers and microchips.

Silicon dioxide (SiO2), silicon's most common compound, is the most abundant compound in the earth's crust. It commonly takes the form of ordinary sand, but also exists as quartz, rock crystal, amethyst, agate, flint, jasper and opal. Silicon dioxide is extensively used in the manufacture of glass and bricks. Silica gel, a colloidal form of silicon dioxide, easily absorbs moisture and is used as a desiccant.

Silicon forms other useful compounds. Silicon carbide (SiC) is nearly as hard as diamond and is used as an abrasive. Sodium silicate (Na2SiO3), also known as water glass, is used in the production of soaps, adhesives and as an egg preservative. Silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4) is used to create smoke screens. Silicon is also an important ingredient in silicone, a class of material that is used for such things as lubricants, polishing agents, electrical insulators and medical implants.

Estimated Crustal Abundance: 2.82×105 milligrams per kilogram

Estimated Oceanic Abundance: 2.2 milligrams per liter

Number of Stable Isotopes: 3 (View all isotope data)

Ionization Energy: 8.152 eV

Oxidation States: +4, +2, -4

Electron Shell Configuration: 1s2

And if you don't have any residue of it, then

Really? and the facts/data are? Residue is the s*it you don't need after applying a product for a particular need. Weird how it seems to work here in this blowing dirt/sand country.

Well that's certainly strange, even CRC doesn't list their silicone spray @ 99% mineral spirits & other hydrocarbon stuff.

Much less as leading off with mis-information.............just my 2 cents worth...............

Dan

As some other posters have stated, lubricating the track is a band-aid approach and should be avoided. The rollers need to be replaced and/ or lubricated. Personally I would replace them since the work to access them for lubrication is the same as accessing them for replacement. There should be an adjustment at the end of the slider near the rollers. Adjust the rollers to retract them in so the slider can be removed from the frame. Once the slider is out remove and replace or lubricate the rollers. Applying lubricants to the tracks will just attract more dust and debris which will create gunk that makes the situation worse. Have fun.