Laser cladding or alloying is the latest technology applied to surface refinement and suitable for manufacture of various machine elements and tool parts. The type of cladding to be produced is chosen with reference to the required properties of machine-element surfaces. To this, the type of the base material is adapted too. Studies of claddings or alloyed layers most frequently include microstructural and microchemical analyses and occasionally, if an application is exacting, also testing of residual stresses, various wear and corrosion tests. The paper will represent microstructural analyses of the clad layer immediately after laser cladding with SiC, and further on also the influence of the conditions of subsequent heat treatment to affect the microstructure and the microhardness profile. A particular attention is paid to measurement of residual stresses and calculation of principal residual stresses at the cladding surface as well as determination of residual-stress profile in the thin surface layer after cladding with SiC, Steallite 6, and Stellundum 481. The knowledge of the microstructure and the related microhardness of the cladding or the alloyed layer, supported by the knowledge of the residual-stress profile, makes it possible to predict both the quality of the refined layer and the service life of heavy-loaded machine elements.