This shows the small flipper panels on the left and right sides. They seem to bind when moved down.
I have a problem when putting my top down on my 2006 CLK350. The operation all goes smoothly until the last step when the bow flippers (top storage compartment cover) come down to lock, at that time the flippers do not seem to want to go down in place until they snap down in place (not right). I think these flippers should nest in place but they seem to either bind somewhere or there is not room for them to go down. Any comments would be appreciated since it is almost top down season. By the way when i put the top back up they bow cover flippers do not seem to bind anywhere and they nest in place fine.

 

You're talking about the flaps that cover the openings where the soft top mechanism comes out to the outside of the rear seats, correct? They have some small hooks underneath that grab onto a latch to put them in place. Those can get bent. Another possibility is that they are operated by a Bowden cable that is connected to the cover mechanism and it can get broken and not pull the flaps correctly.

 

I tried to operate the top going all the way down and all the way back up and what I did was while bringing it down I halted half way and waited about 20 seconds and then completely went down and there was no snags or snapping noise.