This paper presents fretting fatigue tests on 42CrMo4+QT steel, combined with self-heating measurements. The thermal imaging technique was used for rapid evaluation of the fretting fatigue limit targeting minimal consumption of test samples. Tests with load asymmetry ratios of R = -1 and R = 0 were performed using two different fretting pad geometries. The resulting fatigue limits were compared with values obtained from conventional fretting fatigue S-N curves. Elastic-plastic simulations of the experiments were conducted, and multiaxial fatigue criteria were applied to assess the risk of crack initiation. Additionally, a qualitative assessment was made to predict crack initiation locations according to observations from fractography.