The motion when two parts in a machine come into contact can be a normal, sliding or rolling approach, or a combination of the three. The case of combined normal and sliding motion can be very unfavourable from the point of view of lubrication. Nevertheless, this situation does occur, for example in a gear mesh and in heavily loaded rolling-element bearings.The following factors in the case of lubrication of machine elements during combined normal and sliding motion were studied experimentally: oil viscosity, surface texture, shear strength of oil and maximum pressure. The pressure also involves the parameters normal force, Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio and surface curvature.Based on the experimental results, an equation has been deduced which describes how the above-mentioned factors influence the permissible limiting sliding velocity Vsl without oil film breakdown: Vsl=0.127×10-6(v0.1-1.575)(ψ-13.1-1.707)(3840-pmax)This equation agrees well with results from experiments carried out by other authors, and is valid if combined sliding and impact between the machine elements, resulting in a limited contact time, are present.