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Q:What is Retractable PLUS operating gear on an up and over door?
This enables a better drive through clearance by moving the side arms higher up when the door is open.When you use a retractable up and over garage door you will see the door panel is lifted by steel arms at either side of the door and when the door is open those lifting arms sit either side in between the fixing sub frame and this reduces the opening width by between 4 - 6 inches depending on the manufacturer and the door size ordered. All doors over 8 feet wide nowadays are only available on retractable gear.
The problem tends to occur on the smaller width doors such as 7' (2134mm ) 7'5" (2261mm) or 7'6" (2286mm) where the door width reduction can interfer with getting a vehicle into the garage. As retractable doors are recommended and best for remote control electric operation there are more and more being used in the UK all the time.
Most cars have got considerably wider over the last 5-10 years and this has caused problems on a regular basis for home owners wanting to use the garage after they take delivery of their new car. Garages really need to have 8 feet wide doors as standard but that is a different problem to tackle.
The Retractable PLUS gear option simply moves the geometry of the side arms upwards and therefore gives the full width drive through at wing mirror height for the majority of cars BUT NOT 4 x 4 vehicles where the wing mirrors are obviously higher up and a problem for any retractable door.
This gear type is always worth ordering for any up and over door at the smaller sizes and tends to only be about £40 more than a standard retractable door.
