987 Boxster - Roof Elastics Replacement

Are you troubled by the so typical stretched-out roof elastics - where the lip of the cloth top isn't falling into the door frame groove? If you haven't experienced it - you will. It's not an IF sort of thing, it's a WHEN sort of thing. Or - "they all do it.." So what causes this? The edge of the top at that point, as the top is closing, wants to go straight - which unfortunately wouldn't result in it ending up correctly in the groove in the door frame plastic. Porsche engineering's solution was to add a thingie (cloth tab and elastic) that pulled that edge inward as the top closed - making it fall into the grove in the window-frame assembly. The failure is - the thingie stops pulling on the top, and the top edge goes over the window frame assembly - putting extra force on the top mechanism, and setting the stage for additional top failures (like popped ball sockets in the drive mechanism.) Digression - click to view: Aside - for real Rube Goldberg engineering solutions - I've never quite seen as many strange and wonderous and puzzling solutions as there are for convertible tops. Every design is different. It's just something that is half magic and half kludge. As long as the magic keeps working the world is good. In this case - the magic fails... For the best folding top I ever had, it's hard to beat the '65 Jag XKE, no motors, you just unclipped it from the windshield header and reached up, and folded it back. Done. To close it - just as simple, reach behind you in the center of the car, grab it, pull it up into position, and fasten the two clips. That really was magic. Lots of cars run around like this for long periods - the owners don't know something is actually wrong. Some owners do get it fixed, but the quality of the fix is perhaps marginal, and the issue will probably reoccur in the not-so-distant future. And some owners DIY - with good or bad results, but they invariably write it up on the Internet for all to admire their handiwork (tongue in cheek here..) There are at least 20-30 writeups on this, and LOTS of YouTube videos. What seats the roof correctly is - there is a cloth tab sewn into that edge of the roof, and that tab connects to an elastic that goes down to one of the moving arms on the top mechanism. As the roof closes - the elastic is pulled on, pulling the tab which pulls the edge of the roof into the track on the window frame parts. With time/heat/use - the elastic gets old (just like the elastics in underpants) and fails to exert enough pull on the tab. Mine had been "fixed" at some prior time. The fix had been to sew a replacement elastic to the tab on the roof. It was sewn in parallel with the old elastic (which was left attached, dangling around) and it too had passed on, without enough stretch to pull the tab into position. The usual fix for this is to punch another hole in the elastic and move the elastic down one hole on the fastening screw. Eventually - as the elastic degrades - there is no more stretch left and you can't adjust it to close correctly. So my goal was a better solution. Porsche dealerships will charge you a few hours of labor to attach a new elastic. You can DIY in about an hour by using the elastic I made.. at the cost of less than $1/per-side. There are other solutions involving stapling things together. There are solutions involving sewing things together. There are solutions involving small bungee cords. My solution doesn't do any of those. Most of the work can be comfortably done at your desk. And the result is EASILY adjustable for future corrections. Suggested reading: 987 Boxster convertible top sides not tucked in < other solutions. First - what you'll need to order: Amazon.com: RayTour Bed Sheet Holder Straps Sheet Stays Keepers Bedsheet Holders Fasteners : Home & Kitchen Buy RayTour Bed Sheet Holder Straps Sheet Stays Keepers Bedsheet Holders Fasteners: Sheet Fasteners - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases www.amazon.com The item above from Amazon costs $9.95. It comes with 4 of the above assemblies - giving you enough elastics to fix 6 cars on both sides. The rather obvious first step is to cut off one of the elastic straps and prepare it for use. See the photo for where to cut. SHARP scissors are a good thing for this job. You're then left with a length of about 6" of elastic. With an adjusting clasp. The elastic is 1.2" wide - about 3.5x wider (and stronger) than the stock elastic. Since the elastic is stronger, you can adjust it to pull the top into position without stretching as much as the original elastic did. That should increase the life of the elastic. That's the magic of this cure - if it weakens over time, you can easily adjust it by shortening the length using the adjusting clasp. It's very easy, no tools are required to adjust it. You could adjust it on the side of the road with no tools at all. Prep of the elastic: After cutting it, I melted the edges using a grille lighter so the elastic wouldn't unravel, and then punched a hole in it using a heated awl (make the tip hot enough to burn you.. and it will melt the fibers apart.) Make the hole about 1/8" diameter and about 3/4" from the cut end of the strap. The awl: As shown below, you want the length of the strap, with it almost fully extended (adjusting clasp near the clamping jaw) between the hole for the screw and the midpoint of the locking clamp to be about 4.5" - this should work fine when installed at this length. If needed now or in the future, you have several inches of adjustment that can be easily made by moving the adjusting clasp further toward the end with the hole. No tools are needed to make that adjustment, and it can be done by feel quite easily by just releasing the edge of the headliner (the two velcro tabs) and reaching in. EDIT - 11/25/22I - I decided to redo these instructions using a melted hole in the elastic for the screw that fastens it to the arm on the top mechanism. This is a better solution than the original idea which used a punched hole. Here is what this solution looks like (threaded screw in the hole: Installing the new elastic: Next, I dove into the inside guts of the top to find the other end of the failed elastic. This is made much easier if you (1) have one - remove the storage compartment or Bose subwoofer from behind the seat - two twist locks, disconnect the subwoofer wiring, then lift out while the top is in service position over the top of the roll bars, with the seats folded forward. I rested mine on the back of the seats (it left no marks.. and wasn't in the way then.) This allows you to SEE where you're working rather than just work by feel (OPTIONAL NOW - you can do the job with the storage-compartment, subwoofer in place, it's just a bit more difficult that way... see Post #34. ) (2) open the two velcro tabs hold the edge of the headliner in place - open these so the edge of the headliner can be moved aside. Find a light you can use to illuminate the area (I used an old 4" photo reflector lamp with an LED bulb - no heat - clipped onto the center wind deflector bracket on the roll hoop.) (3) Remove the clear wind deflector if you have one - it makes it easier to get to things, and you don't have to worry about breaking or scratching it. Eventually - as you become familiar with the inner workings of the top - you won't need to remove anything except the velcro holding the headliner edge in place. You'll be working primarily by feel, but it's not difficult to do. Take a look down - and you'll probably see: Note that I marked the arm it screws into with some tape so I'd have a general idea of where the screw hole is. I'd suggest a mini-ratcheting wrench that is made for Torx(TM) bits. It is a T20 screw (many writeups refer to it as T15, T15 will sorta work, but will be difficult and can damage the screw - use the right size.) Remove the screw (and don't drop it, much easier when you use the correct size Torx..) UPDATE - as seen by comments below, the debate continues on this being a T15 or a T20. As I mentioned the T15 feels like it fits, just a bit loosely. The T20 does fit - snuggly - snug enough that the screw will stay in place on the tip of the Torx driver instead of falling off. Since you're working mostly by feel - having it stay in place is a GOOD thing. The elastic and the tab can now be moved out of the top so that it's accessible. My tab had remnants of several sewn-on fixes, and several stapled-on fixes. I spent some time removing all of those: The fold in it is where it had been folded, stapled, and sewn to put more tension on the elastic. A botched solution IMHO (I won't say who did this..) I used some "Gorilla Tape" to strengthen the tab. It was applied to both sides and sticks quite well to the cloth the tab was made from and cut off the remnants of the old elastics: UPDATE: Take note of the part of the tab I've marked as "Do Not Put Tape Here" - originally I had tape there and if the top was left down in cold weather for any period of time - that section of the tab was too stiff to easily pull the corded-edge of the top into the groove on the top-window frame. Removing about 1" of tape on both sides resolved that issue and it works reliably now. I then found a larger washer to use under the screw - to better secure the elastic to the moving arm. The elastic is roughly 3x wider than the original elastic, so the extra heft of the larger washer secures it quite nicely. Note the trimmed end and melted edge.. And at that point, I clipped the new elastic to the end of the tab and then put the screw back into the arm securing the elastic in place (no pic yet - maybe when I do the other side). Conclusion: I then worked the top to see how it needed to be adjusted. It required moving the clasp to about 1" away from the bottom (screw) fastening point for it to work and pulling the edge of the top into place. The strap could easily be made 1" shorter or even 1.5" shorter - this would increase the adjustment range. So I now have enough material (4 x 3-armed assembly, 12 elastics) to do several more cars or do my car 5 more times. If anyone in NJ wants to do theirs, get hold of me and I can guide you through doing it. EDIT - 11/17/22 - In making up a new strap for the side previously done - I made a strap about 1.5" shorter. This ends up giving more future adjustment range. Easy enough to do. I love $10 fixes that work. Two additions - thanks to Foodbiker! Folks - DO check for this problem with some frequency. If the top is allowed to not seat correctly in the window-frame channel, the rubber coating on the cable along the edge WILL eventually be damaged. There is no way to actually repair that once it happens, at least no economical way. It's either find a top repair shop (large $$$) or replace the top (even larger $$$$). Once you spot the issue - FIX IT IMMEDIATELY. Additionally - this failure will also cause the top to not fully move to the close position at the end of travel for closing. This results in requiring much more force to be used on the latch assembly, which eventually could cause it to fail. Mine did this intermittently, and I'd taken to manually pulling the leading edge of the top forward (using the little hand-holds in the latch area) and then latching it. When mine did it the latch made a big KLACK! noise and I'm sure it would have eventually broken. It's not an issue since I fixed the elastic - the top closes and at the end of travel, the leading edge of the top is touching the windshield header. The latch works effortlessly. No KLACK! A further addition - I mentioned above using a small ratchet wrench made for use with small bits and sockets (screwdriver, Torx, Allen) - but failed to show it. Here it is: This is available as a stand-alone wrench, or as a kit with all sorts of bits that plug into it. The socket came with a Torx driver kit that I had and can be pulled from the ratchet assembly and used with fingers to get screws started or speed them into place if the threads aren't too tight. Once you have it, this is one of those tools - you wonder how you did without it. Here is the kit I have: Amazon.com - It makes a great holiday stocking stuffer suggestion for those people who never had anything when asked what they want. It's a GOOD THING. And only $18.00 - made by Gearwrench, a quality product. The finished product in place: Appendium 2/20/2023: I had an issue with one side - it would slowly start misadjusting itself - the elastic would work through the slider-part, moving that part closer to the clasp, making the elastic longer. This usually seemed to happen after the top had been down for a while and it was fairly cold. SO - I had to think of a fix for that. What I came up with is two staples. If the elastic is stapled between the adjusting buckle and the clasp - it won't (can't) do this. It makes adjusting it a bit trickier - you'll have to remove the staples and then put in new ones (maybe 2 minutes) - but so far it seems to work. See below for where the staples should go:

One other warning - when you're done with the job, don't leave the key in the ignition overnight. I came out to my car (going to get a tooth extracted) and found the spoiler was up, the car had locked itself and the key was locked in the ignition (thank Dog I have 2 keys - I was able to unlock the door with the actual key part of the key.) This is how I discovered that no smart charger or battery-pack jump starter will put out volts without seeing some voltage. After trying 3 different chargers, and 1 battery pack - and not being able to unlock the frunk so I could charge the battery - I remembered my motorcycle was parked right next to the car, and it has a good and easily accessible 12V battery in it. It also has a 6' set of motorcycle jumper cables. I hooked the battery to the jumpers, hooked the jumpers to the door-stop and the power-pull-out in the fuse box, and voila! I was able to unlock the frunk. I also can report that the tiny little cover for the hole in the ignition lock that is used to release a key - the cover flies away never to be seen again. It actually must do that often enough that it has a part# 997-618-361-00, about $17 for a TINY piece of plastic (plus shipping.. I think I'll order it locally..) My wife was amused that Porsche designed a car with a battery that is inaccessible if it goes bad, and came up with two complex ways to access the battery (the jumper thingie, and the cable behind the wheel-well liner.) Of course, if your jumper cables were in the frunk - that limits that option, and since you can't get the frunk open to get to the jack and lug wrench to remove the wheel so you can then remove the wheel liner. She felt it was some sort of engineer's prank. I found it hard to argue otherwise.

Thank you Don for posting this.

Quotes source post: 2197715

Thanks so much for this write up… I have this issue on the top of my ‘09 BS and the dealer wanted $700 to do what you’ve done for $10 (plus some time). Nice of you to post it in such a thorough step by step manner!

Thanks much for the compliment. I'll be revising it a bit to eliminate the reference to the punched hole elastic (leaving the awl-made opening for the screw) and to shorten the recommended starting length. The length from where the screw goes to the end of the clip should be around 4" with the sliding clasp midway on it. I'm off to the garage today to change my passenger's side elastic. I'll let you know how that works out.

Look forward to the update … bought the bedsheet elastic thingies and the torx socket set last night from dear old mr bezos after reading your write up, so I should be attempting the repair soon. Will post a before and after pic.

Dealers are pretty funny aren't they? Wonder what the hourly rate is at your dealership. I believe mine is now $225/hour.

One change I've made to the instructions above - I removed about 1" of the reinforcing Gorilla Tape (tm) where it's closest to the bead that goes into the groove in the window frame. Reinforcing that area made it too stiff and it wouldn't reliably fold into the groove after being down for some time in cold weather. Removing the "stiffness" solved that issue.

Don-im nearby in the Philadelphia area.While my top works fine now I’m thinking of doing this proactively.(2008 RS 60 Boxster )I’m the “read one see one do one “ kinda guy.How bout I come over in the spring and we do it together-dinner on me!Im always wanting to meet cool Porsche peeps anyways!Contact me via email if you’re willing; [email removed] ,thanks and look forward to hearing from you !,Stuart

Stuart - glad to help out. I even have a lot of spare elastics.. let me know when you want to stop over. If you look at Google maps, I'm a bit north and a lot east of you (Spring Lake, NJ).. if there are other people in the area interested we can make a 987 elastic-fest out of it..

Literally came here looking for someone to have as much of a neurotic obsession for fixing things the best way possible, as I do, and found exactly that in this thread. I was going to go as far as to design something to grip the cloth "tab" in place of your guerrilla tape solution.

Great post. I just bought an 05 S, and had not noticed that the edge of the top was not sliding into the 'shelf' properly. Thanks to you, it's now fixed, and I'm a few hundred dollars better.

Robert - thanks for letting me know it helped! When you have a chance - now that your top is closing correctly.. how about an intro and some pics over on New Member Introductions And welcome to Planet-9, the Friendly Porsche Forum!

This is helpful and awesome and I wish I had seen this instead of a shaky video guide when I was doing this. Thank you for making this, sir. Added to the diy guide list.

Absolutely brilliant! I can't believe how easy it was to implement. I think I spent a total of 1/2 hour to do both sides. The wrench is critical to making this work and well worth what it costs. After all the time and money I've spent on this problem Don's solution is a breath of fresh air. It's also the first time I've seen text and pictures out do videos! Thank you so much!

Thank you! It's always great to hear something worked... so I'm not just spinning my wheels here.. and I like videos, but now that YouTube is monetizing them by making the authors do ads in the middle of them, or them inserting ads in the middle - I think the value of written (and easily referred to) DIYs just increases.

Could one not use the clips to secure the elastic at both ends? I have material still there at the inner end of the elastic which seems like it would accept the clip just as well as at the outer end.

That would be difficult since (1) the elastic has to be cut shorter in order to work and (2) there is ONLY one clip on the elastic. So - the answer is no, not possible. It seems most people have no issue with cutting the elastic, making a hole and using the mounting screw. BTW - when you have a chance, please go to: New Member Introductions and tell us all about your Boxster and yourself. Pictures of the Boxster will be welcomed! Welcome to Planet-9, the Friendly Porsche Forum!

Re the single clip issue I bought these 8 PCS Adjustable Bed Sheet Straps, Elastic Fitted Sheet Clips, Bed Sheet Fasteners for Fitted Bed Sheets, Bed Scrunchie for Mattress Pad Covers : Amazon.ca: Home 8 PCS Adjustable Bed Sheet Straps, Elastic Fitted Sheet Clips, Bed Sheet Fasteners for Fitted Bed Sheets, Bed Scrunchie for Mattress Pad Covers : Amazon.ca: Home www.amazon.ca Not yet received but I will let you know.

Certainly will be interested in the outcome. The only issue I see if they are 15" long, which is about 9-10" longer than you want for the elastic to work. You can shorten it by moving the buckle - but without trying that I sort of doubt if they'll shorten enough. No big loss though - you can always hack off an end on these and make the hole. It does say the minimum length is 8.3" long.. Maybe with some creativity they can be shortened even more..

So I chopped off one clip, removed the adjustment buckle and put in about 6 staples to reattach the chopped clip at a distance that resulted in the 4.5" distance between attach points you suggested. Attached one clip to the still-existing band adjacent to the screw and the other clip to midway up the tab. I've done a half dozen tries and the top works perfectly now. Let's see how long it lasts......

NIce and more classy then my $2 walmart elastic fix for sure @deilenberger as I repaired mine (some experience / lessons learned posted here ), I found a mysterious elastic on the passenger side (but nothing on the passenger side). Would you happen to know what this is? By the way, I guess my fingers / arms / skin is too obscene (click below) for a Porsche forum ??? ;-) Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18 Show Content

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Did the system trigger the obscene picture thingie? I think it looks for large expanses or proportion of flesh in photos. I didn't have to approve it, and didn't receive a warning about it, so your arm and fingers must have passed the test.. I have that same elastic on both sides. I believe it runs along the edge of the roof somewhere.. I'm not quite certain of its purpose though. Do you have the headliner in the roof? It might have something to do with that..

I haven't had (yet) that issue, so I can't say for sure.. but it's possible it's too tight. I think the issue with some of the narrower elastics is they may not provide enough tension to pull the tab/top into the slot correctly, so people may adjust them so they are max stretched to achieve the needed tension. Under those conditions it's entirely possible they may provide too much force (no give) resulting in what you're experiencing.

It is catch 22 for me. At current state, I think the tension is too low and the edge does not go into the slot completely. Or maybe the tension is too low perhaps? (but again, when I loosened more, the fabric flatten out a bit more but the rail does not seat properly.....). And the thickness of my walmart elastic is an inch. I also noticed a string / wire going cross the roof connecting both sides but not sure it does anything (as it is very loose). In any case, not urgent or critical, and will certainly "upgrade" to your adustable method. Thanks again!

Quotes source post: 2197715

Excellent writeup! I just did this on my 2005 Boxster S. Thanks for the attention to detail!

Thanks for letting us know it helped you! I see this was your first post, and also thanks for making it one telling us something helped. When you have a chance - please visit New Member Introductions and let us know about about you and your Boxster! Welcome to Planet-9, the Friendly Porsche Forum!

Works perfect … other than dropping my elastic strap down inside the top boot black hole, which required only an extendable magnet to retrieve … this was super easy. A few pics above … before, after, and the process … thanks againDon, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the dealer In my area wanted $700 for this job that cost less than $20 for materials and under an hour of my time!

Great to see another success story... I wonder when Amazon will start marketing a kit...

As a heads up, I did this job with out taking the Bose rear speaker cover off. I just put the top at about 1/4 up toward the closed position. The 20mm torx from the set you suggested worked fine to unattach the stretched out retractor, and I could pull back the head liner and see into the “operating theater”. I hung a small LED light in the “theater” and was able to do the job super easy and quickly.

Yeah … that cost sounds right. I had an Indie do the work and paid him $1600 total and it included genuine Porsche parts (all of those you noted). I will try to some things myself (like my top repair) but brakes isn’t one of them (for obvious reasons😉).

I finally got a look at the bands on my car. Looks like someone has been in there before, as they have stitched in bands on both sides. My driver side doesn't tuck properly right now, so I'm thinking of how I want to approach it. It might make sense to do the full fix, as others here have done. Alternatively, since mine only has a screw through the existing band, I could just move the band a little lower, and reinstall the screw. Here's my existing setup: I figure just moving the screw could be enough for now... or I can do the full job. Maybe I should just do the whole thing... Also, while in here, second question - what is the exposed rusty ring with the cord below it? I wonder if I need to tape that up to "protect" it from the elements a bit? Here's another view of that part: I don't think the other side has it this exposed, but I'll have to look again. Today was just about seeing what I have, and getting an idea of what I should prepare for...

Quick note. If you do the full fix, use a gorilla tape that is not slick. The closures on the bed sheet retainers that are recommended didn’t hold onto slick duct tape , and pulled off. So I put a piece of athletic tape over the top of the duct tape because it’s got a rougher texture… so far it’s held well.

Just want to post a quick TY to Don E for guiding me on facilitating the replacement of my elastic straps. He lives less than 10 miles from me, so I drove over to his house yesterday. According to Don, mine only needed to have the interior sections replaced with the "bedsheet corner" elastics; the external portions were in good condition (80k on my 987.2 ). Still a PITA getting to those tiny screws; my fingertips are still sore! Also, on the drive over, I threw a code. So after the roof was fixed, Don pulled out his Foxwell , and erased not only the problem code but some others that had been logged by the previous owners. None of them reappeared on the drive back home. Again, thanks Don!

For those of you who have a 986 a slightly modified version of these instructions will also help you. There is no way to unscrew the inner attachment on the 986 that I found. So I flipped this strap around and clipped to the inside, and used a rivet (staples would also work) to connect to the outside strap. That worked just fine.

Love it … dealers want $500 or more to make this repair! Good post…thanks

I used “The Original Bed Band”. It has clips on each end and an adjuster that can shorten them to a useful length. No Torx, no cayerizing, no cutting, no trying to shove your hands into the Carlsbad Cavern of your top’s internals. Clip the ends on and adjust to length. best Advantage: they can easily be made shorter or longer without cutting. Stupidly easy to install, too. Original Bed Bands. $13 for 4.