The article is devoted to the analysis of a mathematical model of a lubricant mootion in the working gap of a radial sliding bearing with a support profile having a fluoroplast-containing composite polymer coating with a groove on the support surface, which has micro-polar properties. New mathematical models describing the motion of the bearing material in the working gap of a radial bearing with a support profile having a polymer coating with a groove, which has micropolar rheological properties in the laminar mode of motion, in the approximation for a “thin layer”, are proposed. A comparative analysis of the obtained results of a theoretical experimental study of a radial sliding bearing with a support profile having a polymer coating with a groove, without a groove, and the existing ones, confirming the approximation of the obtained model to real practice, is performed. The novelty of the work lies in the development of a methodology for engineering calculations of the design of a radial sliding bearing with a polymer coating in the presence of a groove that allows determining the value of the main tribotechnical parameters: hydrodynamic pressure, load capacity, friction force, friction coefficient. As a result of the study, a significant expansion of the possibilities of applying in practice the obtained mathematical models of a sliding bearing with a support profile having a polymer coating with a groove, operating in the mode of hydrodynamic lubrication with a material having non-Newtonian rheological properties in the laminar flow mode, allowing assessment of the operational characteristics of the bearing - the amount of hydrodynamic pressure, load capacity and coefficient of friction was achieved. The design of a radial bearing with a fluoroplastic-containing anti-friction composite polymer coating and a groove with a width of 2 mm ensured stable ascent of the shaft on a hydrodynamic wedge, which experimentally confirmed the correctness of the results of theoretical studies of sliding bearings with a diameter of 40 mm with a support profile having a polymer coating with a groove 1…8 mm wide, at a speed of sliding 1…3 m/s, load 4.2…45.5 MPa.