The wear micromechanisms of various microstructures in 52100 and 1080 steels were studied, using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and microhardness indentation. The results show that the difference in wear resistance of various microstructures depends not only on differences in microstructural thermal stability, resistance to plastic deformation, resistance to initiation and propagation of microcracks, especially, but also on the dynamic changes of different microstructures and the difference in energy consumption in wear surface layers during sliding.