My 2002.5 Proteg5 now has a nice ding that's gonna cost me over $400 to get fixed. It's always been garaged -- and it was the garage that attacked it!
My garage door has tension springs. Many do, but others have torsion springs that are wrapped around a shaft; if yours is this latter type, ignore this post.
The tension springs act through an arrangement of cables and pulleys to counter the weight of the door and make it easy to open or shut, either manually or by the automatic opener. What happened to me was that, just as the door was fully closed and the springs were at their maximum tension, a cable broke. This sent the springs, a la coyote and road runner giant slingshot, firing into the structure holding the garage door rails with great force, mangling them and sending springs, pulleys, various other metal objects flying around the garage. One of those items made the nice ding in my car. It coulda been worse -- far worse.
NOW I find out what I'm gonna tell you: Tension springs on garage doors need to be fitted with safety cables. Just trot on down to Lowe's and pick up a box (or two boxes, if you have 4 springs as I do) of garage door cables. Lowe's carries two models, they are both the same length, the loop on the end is a bit different but either will work, and one is a bit cheaper than the other -- about $8 for a box of two cables. Of course, you could use comparable cables intended for other applications, or even buy cable off a roll in another aisle at Lowe's.
Installation is cake. Just attach one end of a cable to something, run it through the center of one of those tension springs, and then attach the other end to something else. Repeat for each spring. As the door opens and shuts, the springs merely stretch and retract around these safety cables, sliding over them. The safety cables don't need to be tight; in fact, it's probably better if they're not. If a spring breaks (they will eventually) or the tension cable attached to them breaks, it'll make a hell of a ruckus but these safety cables will go a long way toward preventing those springs from landing on your car -- or punching through a wall in the garage, or hitting you upside the head. Cheap, cheap insurance.
My garage door has tension springs. Many do, but others have torsion springs that are wrapped around a shaft; if yours is this latter type, ignore this post.
The tension springs act through an arrangement of cables and pulleys to counter the weight of the door and make it easy to open or shut, either manually or by the automatic opener. What happened to me was that, just as the door was fully closed and the springs were at their maximum tension, a cable broke. This sent the springs, a la coyote and road runner giant slingshot, firing into the structure holding the garage door rails with great force, mangling them and sending springs, pulleys, various other metal objects flying around the garage. One of those items made the nice ding in my car. It coulda been worse -- far worse.
NOW I find out what I'm gonna tell you: Tension springs on garage doors need to be fitted with safety cables. Just trot on down to Lowe's and pick up a box (or two boxes, if you have 4 springs as I do) of garage door cables. Lowe's carries two models, they are both the same length, the loop on the end is a bit different but either will work, and one is a bit cheaper than the other -- about $8 for a box of two cables. Of course, you could use comparable cables intended for other applications, or even buy cable off a roll in another aisle at Lowe's.
Installation is cake. Just attach one end of a cable to something, run it through the center of one of those tension springs, and then attach the other end to something else. Repeat for each spring. As the door opens and shuts, the springs merely stretch and retract around these safety cables, sliding over them. The safety cables don't need to be tight; in fact, it's probably better if they're not. If a spring breaks (they will eventually) or the tension cable attached to them breaks, it'll make a hell of a ruckus but these safety cables will go a long way toward preventing those springs from landing on your car -- or punching through a wall in the garage, or hitting you upside the head. Cheap, cheap insurance.
