[aussiblue]

I just asked a friend who has a machine shop what he thought. He said he gives the customer the option of the type head gaskets but advises them that the MLS one will last much longer but will cost more (due to the price of the MLS gasket and the labour costs in being more meticulous in cleaning and checking the head). Most customers (around 90%) choose a graphite gasket to a) save the $100 (prime reason) and b) because they are so put off their Ford by having the gasket fail and the cost of the repairs, they plan to replace the car before it fails again and within the 6 months warranty he gives on the repair. Although his business is about machining head etc he does not routinely machine or skim them but does put a lot off effort into steam cleaning them, servicing the valve train and checking the head for flatness and hardness. As he said, on many of the cars he sees the head has previously been machined and it can only be done a few times. So as he see it unnecessary skimming reduces the life of the head and just adds unnecessary costs to the job. And he says most of his customers are price rather than gasket longevity focussed, and have shopped around for the best price. He also noted that the warranty provided by the actual gasket makers were usually longer for their MLS gaskets.