Disclosed is a flying head slider and suspension assembly with a stress relief for minimizing the stress between a slider having a first linear coefficient of thermal expansion, and a suspension having a surface for adhering the head slider, the suspension having a second linear coefficient of thermal expansion greater than the first linear coefficient of thermal expansion. The flying head slider may be employed for recording and reproducing data on a magnetic disk of a magnetic disk file. One embodiment of the stress relief comprises an opening in the suspension separating the adherence surface into separate portions, each portion for adhering a portion of the head slider, and connected by formed legs on either side of the opening. Another embodiment comprises at least one shaped bumper between the surface and the head slider to provide a uniform thickness of adhesive for adhering the head slider. A further embodiment comprises a reduced thickness portion of the suspension at the surface which is less than the total area of the adherence surface. If the suspension is an integrated lead suspension having several layers which are selectively etched, the same processes and the same layers may be used for producing the stress relief.