The wet and dry adhesion between polymer coated silica surfaces was measured with a view to understanding the influence of polymer additives on the wet and dry strength in paper. The wet adhesion measurements were performed with the AFM colloidal probe technique whereas the dry measurements were made using the new micro adhesion measurement apparatus (MAMA). As expected, cationic dextran (DEX) increased dry adhesion more than the hydrophobically modified cationic dextran (HDEX). Surprisingly HDEX gave strong wet adhesion most probably due to hydrophobic association.