Abstract: A highly conformable cylinder head gasket, especially for diesel engines, in which a steel carrier plate has plural cylinder openings surrounded by raised high shear compression beads formed by partially shearing the metal more than 25 percent but not more than about 50 percent of the carrier plate thickness. The edges of the cylinder openings and the compression beads are covered by a stainless steel wrap of interconnected rings formed from a single sheet, while the edges of the gasket and other fluid conducting openings are sealed with a composition material applied to the carrier plate and having portions precompressed to leave a narrow non-precompressed sealing bead at the desired areas.