[dghii]

Originally Posted by 78F350

I've had that problem on one of my cars for a while and just haven't got around to fixing it yet. There is a loop of fabric loop that guides the edge of the top into a track. You are probably missing that loop of fabric. For now, I am stopping the roof when it is about two feet short of being closed and reaching over to pull the edge of the top into the track before closing it all the way (This particular car usually has the hard top on). It's a common problem mentioned in a couple threads over the years like this:
http://986forum.com/forums/performance-technical-chat/20048-convertible-top-problem.html

Here's some good detail and how to fix it from Mike Focke's Boxster pages:
https://sites.google.com/site/mikefocke2/convertibletopedgedoesnotfallintoguidech

+1 on the stopping short. I replaced my top a few years ago with a glass windowed top. All went well on the job but by sides fall outside the rail as well. My problem is that the fabric loop was broken so no good way to pull the cables back in.

I lived with it. It was always on my mind to try to resolve but I never came up with a good solution. I was always sure to pull cables in manually so nothing got stretched.
I've sold the car and my 'new to me. 996 cab with replacement top closes properly.

Still not sure how I'd fix this issue. It was easier to just live with it