The interfacial contact pressure distribution beneath a complete sliding contact between elastically similar components, in the presence of friction, has been studied, with particular reference to contacts whose edge angles are 60°, 90° and 120°. The possible types of behaviour at the edge of contacts, namely power order singularity, power order bounded and square-root bounded, are discussed. The details of the behaviour require a detailed study of a characteristic equation and this shows that the kinds of pressure distribution to be anticipated, which can vary very markedly. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.