Imagine this: you’ve bought a new car, but there’s a catch – it doesn’t come with any tyres. You can either use the old tyres from your previous car, which may not fit and or may have significant wear on them, or you can invest in some new, high-quality tyres. While the first option may save you a buck in the short term, it’ll probably lead to more problems which result in you buying a new set of tyres anyway.

See where we’re going with this? You could say the same for installing a new garage door on old tracks. The Garage Door Guys believe there are 6 good reasons why it’s generally avoided, so let’s go through them:

1) Your New Door May Not Fit Correctly

Each garage door fits a specific track, just like every wheel fits only one specific size of tyre. While your new garage door may look like it will fit the old track, or it might even fit 95% as well as your previous door, that still won’t cut it. Garage doors are finicky devices which require exact accuracy to operate properly and to ensure that it won’t sustain damage.

2) Old Tracks Pose a Safety Risk

Using the tyre analogy again, you wouldn’t go putting a set of old tyres on a new car if they were balding so much that it would only take the smallest pebble to cause them to pop. The difference is, it’s a lot easier to see when a tyre is worn than it is to tell when your garage door track has seen better days.

Over time, garage door tracks can become rusty, bent or warped, with grime and dirt preventing your door from opening smoothly. This only increases serious damage to your tracks and the door itself, like jamming or snapping off entirely.

3) Old Tracks Are More Likely to Damage Property

It’s obvious that whatever lies beneath your garage door tracks could be toast if they were to snap off. Say goodbye to that Lamborghini you just won in the lottery (yeah, right). But moreover, it could cause major structural damage to your roof, walls or anything else in the way.

4) New Tracks Look Better

Don’t pretend you’re not a little bit vain or a little bit houseproud. Of course you care about the way your house looks. That’s why you spent so long deciding the colour of your garage door in the first place… so then why wouldn’t you care that your tracks are also shiny and new?

5) Old Tracks Could Void a Warranty’

Many garage door retailers will only provide a warranty on your new garage door if you get new tracks to go with it. You’d feel pretty bad about yourself if you skimped out on new tracks and then something happened to your door a week later.

6) New Tracks Aren’t Super Expensive

And we finish, once again, with the tyre analogy. Imagine you’ve just spent thousands and thousands of dollars on a new car, and then refused to fork out a few extra hundred on new tyres. It wouldn’t make sense! Neither does keeping your old garage door tracks.

We hope this clears up the question of whether new garage doors should go on your old tracks. In one simple word, “Nah.”