The impact test, supported by its finite elements method (FEM) simulation, has been successfully used to characterize the fatigue performance of coatings. In this test, the load is exercised perpendicularly to the coated surface by a cemented carbides ball. In the inclined impact test, the successive impacts are applied on an inclined surface. In this way, the coated surfaces are loaded vertically and tangentially simultaneously. The coating fatigue failure modes were classified by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy microanalyses. The experimental method is supported by a developed FEM simulation, which considers the mechanical elastic-plastic properties of the coating and of the substrate, as well as of the ball indenter during the impact test, thus enabling the elucidation of the coating failure modes. In this way, critical equivalent stresses were determined and the coating cohesive and adhesive impact performance was systematically investigated. The inclined impact test implies a new reference to the prediction of the coatings' cohesive and adhesive failure, managing to approach loading directions for a variety of coated surfaces in different applications. Examples for an efficient use of this test are presented and a characteristic magnitude, the coating impact adhesion (CIA), is introduced. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.