During the last decades, in order to clarify the coupled thermal and frictional aspects in dry sliding contacts, researchers have been involved in theoretical models as well as in experimental testing. In order to outline both the analytical and the experimental approach, a procedure for estimating the maximum temperature increase in dry sliding contacts is introduced. The procedure is based on an analytical solution for the two-dimensional temperature field in a slab subjected to a suitably shaped moving heat source. Experiments were carried out on a specifically designed pin-on-disk device with the aim of taking into account the unavoidable uneven friction distribution under the coupled surfaces. The subsequent data reduction led to quite satisfactory agreement with analytical predictions and provided a suitable shape for the heating source distribution thus allowing for proper maximum temperature rise estimate. Since measuring the interface temperature of a friction pair is a difficult task, temperature data were collected by means of infrared thermography; this technique seems to be the most effective and valuable due to its ability of performing continuous temperature map recording with relatively high resolutions when compared to other traditional methods. It is a matter of facts that high energy rates are dissipated by friction during short periods, thus transient and localized thermal phenomena with high thermal gradients are to be expected. The latter conditions still suggest the use of IR thermography.