The article is devoted to the development and analysis of a design model of lubricant movement in the working gap of a radial journal bearing with an elastic bearing profile of the bearing sleeve surface and a metal coating of the shaft surface with truly viscous properties. New mathematical models have been developed based on basic equations that take into account the flow of a truly viscous liquid for a “thin layer”, the malleability of the bearing sleeve support surface - the Lame equation, compressibility - the equation of state, the Weisbach - Darcy formula, the profile of the molten contour of the metal coating of the shaft surface - the rate of dissipation of mechanical energy. The results of the numerical analysis of the refined models obtained by changing the design of the radial bearing, as well as taking into account the compressibility of the lubricant and the coating melt, allowed us to obtain an effectiveness qualitative assessment of the malleable bearing profile of the bearing sleeve and the shaft with a metal coating. A comparative analysis of the obtained results of theoretical and experimental studies of radial bearing structures: with and without metal coating; elastic support profile; without taking into account the elasticity of the support profile; taking into account compressibility; without taking into account the compressibility of the lubricant. At the end of the research complex, experimental tests were carried out that confirmed the correctness of the results of theoretical studies. The ingenuity of the developed design models, taking into account the use of additional lubrication with a metal coating on the shaft surface to compensate for an emergency shortage of lubricant, the compressibility of the lubricant, as well as the malleability of the bearing surface, consists in the application of a technique for obtaining their exact self-similar solutions. As a result of theoretical, experimental research and comparative analysis of the available scientific results with the obtained ones, it was found that the use of the studied radial journal bearings, taking into account the above factors, significantly increases the bearing capacity (8-9 %), and the coefficient of friction decreases by 7…8 %.