How to protect the Falcon Wing doors from a moving garage door

[Mark Z]

A new software release to allow the auto presenting of the driver door also features an optional lower and wider opening for the Falcon Wing Doors for single use or as a setting.

Please read the thread here: Auto Presenting Front Door

 

[Marcus Adolfsson]

Awesome, installing now. Will see if the lower opening is sufficient for us.

 

[ohmman]

Adding GPS aware settings for this will be the next step to really solving the issue.

 

[Marcus Adolfsson]

While my original solution was clever to prevent damage, the low garage door height caused issues with opening the FWD and the rear hatch to comfortable settings. So I took @sfriedrich recommendation to heart and installed a LiftMaster 8500 (along with extension track) that raised the garage door over a foot. Now I have 94" clearance from the floor to the lowest point of the opened garage door, and the FWD can open fully!

The rear hatch (especially with the spoiler extended) can still not be opened fully, but substantially higher then before.

The LiftMaster 8500 was $290 in Amazon, and labor for new spring+track was $615. I also had a to add a new outlet in the garage for the opener.

 

[CTemp222]

Congrats!! Glad your solution worked. This just reminded me to go measure my garage.

 

[ohmman]

Nice work, Marcus. I'm doing the same. It's pretty bizarre that we're reconfiguring our homes for a vehicle. I'll go ahead and be the broken record and say it.. these doors are driving me nuts.

 

[CTemp222]

Nice work, Marcus. I'm doing the same. It's pretty bizarre that we're reconfiguring our homes for a vehicle. I'll go ahead and be the broken record and say it.. these doors are driving me nuts.

My garage is fine, lowest point is 97.5 inches. How many of you are actually reconfiguring your garages for this car?

 

[andrewket]

I'm doing the same thing to both our doors. You got a better deal than me. All-in including new weather stripping (it needed it badly) was $2600, and $250 for the two new outlets.

 

[EVenthusiast]

While my original solution was clever to prevent damage, the low garage door height caused issues with opening the FWD and the rear hatch to comfortable settings. So I took @sfriedrich recommendation to heart and installed a LiftMaster 8500 (along with extension track) that raised the garage door over a foot. Now I have 94" clearance from the floor to the lowest point of the opened garage door, and the FWD can open fully!

The rear hatch (especially with the spoiler extended) can still not be opened fully, but substantially higher then before.

The LiftMaster 8500 was $290 in Amazon, and labor for new spring+track was $615. I also had a to add a new outlet in the garage for the opener.

Anything you don't like about this new opener/setup? Is it quieter?

 

[Marcus Adolfsson]

Anything you don't like about this new opener/setup? Is it quieter?

It is a little bit slower than my old opener, but at most 2-3 seconds.

 

[JPP]

While my original solution was clever to prevent damage, the low garage door height caused issues with opening the FWD and the rear hatch to comfortable settings. So I took @sfriedrich recommendation to heart and installed a LiftMaster 8500 (along with extension track) that raised the garage door over a foot. Now I have 94" clearance from the floor to the lowest point of the opened garage door, and the FWD can open fully!

The rear hatch (especially with the spoiler extended) can still not be opened fully, but substantially higher then before.

The LiftMaster 8500 was $290 in Amazon, and labor for new spring+track was $615. I also had a to add a new outlet in the garage for the opener.

View attachment 114531View attachment 114532View attachment 114533

...and you know that you can get a battery backup module for that opener....I've got 2 of these in my home.

 

[BornToFly]

@ Marcus
What was the height of your ceiling? Mine is 8 feet = 96 inches. If I do the same as you did, I will probably have 90 inches from floor to garage door. Will that clear the FWD?

 

[BornToFly]

I went ahead and converted the center garage door. It raised it from 84 inches to 92.5 inches. I believe the door is 9 feet wide, and since there is no motor pulling it up from the top anymore, I was able to get rid of the reinforcement at the top which saved over an inch. I think we will be able to open the door even if the FWD are up already. Parts

and labor was under $500. I bought the motor on Amazon and will be installing that myself when it gets here. Total cost under $800.

 

[ohmman]

Looks good, rdalcanto. I definitely think you'll be able to clear. And the peace of mind is worth the investment - same reason I'm doing it.

 

[BornToFly]

In case it helps anyone else - you can see the door on the right has a double track. The top wheels in the upper track, the rest in the lower track, and the motor pulled the door up from the top. The elevated door has a single track utilizing a 12 inch radius. So that meant replacing the curved track and top section, and the vertical track because it had to be longer. The new motor, Liftmaster 8500, will grab the bar above the door (with the spring), and turn it directly to raise and lower the door.

 

[BornToFly]

Huge shout out to Ken (who I met on the forum and had never met in person), who took delivery of his Model X today, and took the time out of his day to come to my house so we could all play with his car. What a cool thing to do! We drove into the garage and tested the FWD with the elevated garage door. THANK GOD I made the change. It did not matter if the door was up or down. It was picking up the track and stopping close to a foot before impact. They did not open all the way, but pretty close (had to duck a little so I didn't hit my head - I'm 6 feet tall). I was then able to open the garage door and it cleared easily. With the old garage door height, the doors would have opened much lower, and we would have had to really duck to get in. The old door height was 84 inches. If your garage door is that low, I think you are going to have a problem.

 

[Park2670]

Looks great. Who did the work? I have been thinking about raising my door so I can stack two cars in my garage.

 

[BornToFly]

Looks great. Who did the work? I have been thinking about raising my door so I can stack two cars in my garage.

I used Precision Door. Travis was my technician, and I would recommend him.