The arc of contact between an individual abrasive particle in a grinding wheel and the workpiece is an important parameter that may be readily calculated if local deflections of wheel and workpiece are neglected. A quick-stop method of determining the difference in contact length due to local wheel-work deflection is presented. Analysis of the results obtained suggest that in fine surface grinding (1) the influence of local wheel-work deflection on contact length is relatively minor (~15%) and (2) the predominant effect is due to wheel deflection and not work deflection. The method presented enables the influence of wheel deflection on contact length to be readily predicted for any grinding situation if the radial component of grinding force and elastic constants of the wheel are known.