A low-friction piston construction for use in an oil-fed cylinder bore with the piston skirt relieved to define lands that are coated with SFL (graphite, MoS.sub.2, BN, and a special expoxy resin). A method of making such piston construction including provision of asperities on the skirt wall onto which the SFL coating is thermally sprayed and formation of small pockets at the mouth of the asperities to additionally act as oil replenishing reservoirs. A method of using such piston construction in an engine which comprises provisions of a slightly increased gap between the piston and cylinder wall and formation of a transferred SFL coating from the piston to the cylinder wall resulting in two polished microsmooth mating coatings, each attractive to oil films.