Wayne Dalton 8300 or 8500 garage door?

[qwert]

Hello:

I am going to install new garage door and trying to choose between Wayne Dalton 8300 and 8500. I read documentation and all the difference I can see is 8500 has higher R value.

What model you would recommend? Should I go with 8500 or 8300 should be good enough?

Thanks a lot!!!

[gdoorpro]

Why I don't like Wayne Dalton!

First off, there website doesn't provide much information on products. Saying you have heavy duty end stile's is one thing, having them is another. They use the same crap all nationally known brand does, and it ain't heavy duty.

Not sure if they have any vertical reinforcement beneath the sheetmetal where the hinges attach.

Don't provide enough struts (horizontal reinforcement), I would want at least one on each section.

The springs are probably expensive to replace, wayne dalton dealers the only place to get them, and good luck getting it done quickly if you order it through home depot (estimated 3 week lead time.)

Check with a local dealer to see if they carry the parts and what the life-cycle rating is on each particular door. If it is only 10,000 cycles, find out if you can upgrade to 30,000 or more, to avoid a costly repair down the road.

If you live in the Midwest, find a dealer for Midland Garage Door Mfg. Co, or North Central Door Co. These doors are actually heavy duty.

Ryan

[jeffkellen]

Wayne Dalton products

First off, I love the people who know nothing about a product and then get on these forums and bash it. Wayne Dalton makes an EXCELLENT product in both their 8300 and the 8500. These 2 doors come with commercial grade hardware, and yes, they have vertical reinforcement where the hinges attach. The door is engineered to have 1 strut on the top section though many dealers will give you an extra strut if you ask for one. These doors are engineered to operate with one strut- because the panels are sufficiently dense to provide enough strength laterally. many of the insulated doors out there are insulted with polystyrene (styrofoam) which adds 0 strength to the door, so yes you will need more struts for those cheap doors. the Wayne dalton doors use polyurethane foam that is blown into the section and then expands and hardens- this makes the panel much stronger. Ryan, "probably the springs are expensive to replace" what?! really? first of all the model 8300 and 8500 come standard with torsion springs- the same springs used in 95% of doors out out there. what your referring to are the Torquemaster springs (not standard on the 8300/8500) which are about $15-20 more to replace, not a big deal every 8 years if you ask me. and why would you order them through Home Depot? go straight to Wayne- Dalton. Also spring replacements are a normal part of garage doors- I wouldnt consider $100-$175 installed a "costly repair" down the road. I love how all your arguments are preceded with "probably" and "not sure" if you dont know, then dont give advice!!!!!!- it's not fair to the consumers. Many people simply "hear" things on the internet, but have no experience. It happens all the time, and people love to bash someone else's product. make sure the people you hear from are not the competitor of the brand you are interested in (Midland Garage door for example) - you wont like what you hear, and it probably wont be all true. just keep that in mind.

To Qwert, to answer your question, yes the 2 doors are essentially the same. the difference is simply r-value and cost. if the extra 4 points of R value are worth the extra couple hundred bucks, then go for the 8500. I could see if you did a lot of work in your garage and it was heated, then that would be worth it. If its simply an attached garage that you would like to keep a little warmer/cooler, then go with the 8300. they are both awesome doors (when installed correctly- this goes for any door) and you will be happy with either. just figure out the cost/benefit ratio for your situation, and go from there. Hope that helps! to Ryan, shame on you.

Jeff
10+ years installer of garage doors

[gdoorpro]

wayne dalton stinks, if ya have to ask for upgrades, i wouldn't recommed them, and if there are not any dealers in town, getting parts becomes a challange, especially torquemaster springs. shipping on a 17' rod ain't gonna be cheap. My experience if their is only one dealer in town they tend to name there price. I'd put any door up against a wayne dalton any day. I would also welcome the specs. for those wayne dalton doors, to compare to other doors. Jeff did not even provide any info about himself on the forum so i guess he is not too, confident about the quality of wayne dalton,(coincidentally they make the noisiest belt drive opener ever!)

[jeffkellen]

proving my point...

Sorry, I didn't fill out my profile for you. I will attach some pics and list my favorite movies and then maybe you can be my friend on Facebook if that will help- how does any of that help to prove the quality of Wayne Dalton products???? Really?!

First of all, please realize you can get any Wayne Dalton door with standard torsion springs- you dont have to go with the Torquemaster system if you don't know how to install it and it scares you. Secondly, the original question was about the model 8300 and 8500- these don't come with Torquemaster springs either, unless you special order them that way. And while we are on the subject, the Torquemaster spring is simply a torsion spring just like everyone is familiar with. But because it is not visible, people think it's some magical new technology that doesn't work like the "trusty torsion spring we all grew up with". The only difference with the spring is that is smaller and longer, looks nicer, and is easier/safer to add tension to. In addition, just because you live in a remote geographic location doesn't make a product bad- it's still a great product, and as I mentioned, you can still get the standard torsion spring if your worried about shipping. Additionally, if you happen to live in an area where one company is the "only game in town" then yes, you're going to pay a little extra for ANYTHING you buy- ask Hawaii. That's not Wayne Dalton's fault. Blame capitalism and the basic fundamentals of supply and demand.
You don't have to "ask for upgrades". As I mentioned before, the doors are designed to have only 1 strut, however, many customers are duped into thinking they need more (by people like you who know nothing about the product but feel better about themselves when they think they have something to "add"- I am sure the readers of these posts are less interested in your "uninformed opinions" than the actual working information about the door they are researching- ) so, some customers feel more comfortable adding a second strut. It's not needed, but it's not going to hurt anything, so if the customer feels better about it, then I add it. Also, many customers prefer a little more reassurance when they are located in high-wind areas. Adding the strut adds a little more strength, however it's not required and normally not needed.

Umm, yeah. I too would gladly put Wayne-Dalton doors up against any door out there- that doesn't really prove anything. As far as "welcoming the specs", Wayne Dalton has an informative website at wayne-dalton.com where you can find all the "specs". It's a tricky domain name I know, but now that the super-secret web address is out, you can cruise the site and get all the "hidden" information on their products.

I Have installed Wayne-Dalton products for 10 years now. I was trained at their factory in Mount Hope Ohio and then was employed by them as an installer for a little over 5 years. I then split off and started my own business where I primarily sell the products I know I can count on. Products that wont require me to make frequent "free" service calls which cost me money. That's Wayne-Dalton. Does this mean all the other doors out there are crap? No, absolutely not. I am not here to bash other companies' products- I just want to protect the products I know are being unfairly misrepresented on these forums. A garage door is a fairly simple thing to design and manufacture, and most doors out there will do the job just fine for 25 years-regardless of the manufacturer. To simplify, Compare R-values, and price, get the most for your money no matter who is selling the door. The difference is also seen in the installation- that's where and why doors fail. The garage door business has a high turnover rate- its hard work for not a lot of pay. What this creates, is a perpetual "new installer" who shows up at your home and installs the door as fast as he can because he is usually paid on a "piece rate" where the more he installs, the more he gets paid. Doors get installed incorrectly, or crooked and the customer blames the product/company when in reality it was just a poor installation. Inquire about the experience of the installer your getting, remember you will have this door for the next 25-30 years- you want it done right the first time.

Also, before someone get's on here and tries to go off on the "I-drive" opener- save it. It is not a great product- I know that, we all know that. I won't hide it and I also won't install it. It was an innovative product at the time, but it was released way too early and had a lot of "bugs" that needed to be worked out. We, as installers hated them, but we had to install them because Wayne-Dalton invested millions in them. So let me beat you to the punch, the Wayne Dalton openers are not the best- it was a single failed product, but that has nothing to do with their doors. (By the way if you want a rail-less opener, go with the LiftMaster 3800. That is a well-built and reliable product and I have never heard a bad thing about them)

Thanks, for ya input, though GDOORPRO. despite the fact that it was. a little difficult, too decipher your message,,, with all the sentence fragments, extra commas, periods, and misspellings. Is this what our public education systems are turning out now?