The ball joint assembly includes a housing that has an inner wall which surrounds an open bore that extends along a central axis. The ball joint assembly further includes a ball stud with a ball portion that is received in the open bore of the housing and with a shank portion that projects out of the open bore through an open end of the housing. At least one bearing is also disposed in the open bore. The at least one bearing has a curved bearing surface which is in slidable contact with the ball portion of the ball stud for allowing the ball stud and the housing to rotate and articulate relative to one another. The bearing is made as a single, monolithic piece of nylon 4/6.

A sliding element with one substrate and at least one layer of a sliding layer material applied to the substrate is described. The sliding layer material can consist of a sliding coating with at least one cross-linkable bonding agent or at least one high-melting thermoplastic material or which consists of a material with a matrix of at least one high-melting thermoplastic material or at least one duroplastic material. This sliding layer material contains Fe.sub.2O.sub.3 with a preferred proportion 0.1 to 15% by volume.

The ball joint assembly includes a housing that has an inner wall which surrounds an open bore that extends along a central axis. The ball joint assembly further includes a ball stud with a ball portion that is received in the open bore of the housing and with a shank portion that projects out of the open bore through an open end of the housing. At least one bearing is also disposed in the open bore. The at least one bearing has a curved bearing surface which is in slidable contact with the ball portion of the ball stud for allowing the ball stud and the housing to rotate and articulate relative to one another. The bearing is made as a single, monolithic piece of nylon 4/6.

A synthetic resin retainer includes two annular members having opposed surfaces opposed to each other and each formed with a plurality of pockets which are circumferentially spaced apart from each other, and in which the balls are received. Each annular member includes axially concave, arc-shaped pocket wall portions defining the inner surfaces of the pockets, and flat plate-shaped coupling plate portions coupling together the adjacent pairs of the pocket wall portions. The coupling plate portions have axial thicknesses of 30% or less of the diameters of the balls, and the pocket wall portions have, at deepest points of the pockets, thicknesses of 10% or less of the diameters of the balls.

A sliding element with one substrate and at least one layer of a sliding layer material applied to the substrate is described. The sliding layer material can consist of a sliding coating with at least one cross-linkable bonding agent or at least one high-melting thermoplastic material or which consists of a material with a matrix of at least one high-melting thermoplastic material or at least one duroplastic material. This sliding layer material contains Fe.sub.2O.sub.3 with a preferred proportion 0.1 to 15% by volume.

A liner configured to be mounted on a radially inner or outer surface of a bearing ring has a generally cylindrical base having first and second axial ends and at least one groove and at least one side wall extending radially from the first or second axial end. The liner is non-metallic and has a base portion covering the inner or outer surface of the bearing ring and a plurality of side wall sections extending radially over at least a portion of at least one axial side of the ring. The base is formed from a plurality of circumferentially adjacent axially extending subsections, each pair of which is connected by a least one hinge having a radial thickness less than a radial thickness of the base portion. Also a bearing assembly that includes a bearing housing and the bearing ring with the liner contacting the bearing housing.