To reduce the friction losses and the wear amounts in the piston assembly two methods were proposed. One is the modification of surface profile of the skirt part. The surface coating is another method to protect the sliding surfaces. To modify the profile of the skirt surfaces the surfaces were ground to have three different shapes of profiles. Also, several coatings, such as graphite, TiN, and $MoS_2$, and DLC, were used to protect the surfaces of the piston skirts. The specimens of the skirt and the cylinder bores were tested with the reciprocating wear tester. SAE 5W40 engine oil was used in boundary lubrication regime. Among several coatings the graphite and DLC coatings were very effective to reduce the friction forces. Especially, DLC film represented much better tribological performances than the others. The friction coefficient of the graphite coating was the lowest, but the graphite coating was not effective to protect the surfaces.