Due to their simple production as well as high load bearing capacity, shrink fitted shaft-hub connections are frequently used in practice. Often, these joints are weakened locally by boreholes or similar resulting in an asymmetric normal and shear stress distribution. These local disturbances support the premature failure of the joint due to fretting and fatigue as a result of micro-slip or reduce their transmission ability. From the mechanics’ point of view, both micro-slip and joint failure can be seen as transition from sticking to sliding. Recent findings on interface friction have shown that the transition from sticking to sliding of two bodies in contact is mainly determined by the distribution of the shear to normal stress in the interface. By a targeted manipulation of this distribution, static friction can be even varied by up to 100 %. Against this background, the coefficient of static friction can be no longer viewed as a constant material parameter, which must be considered in the design process of weakened shrink fitted shaft-hub connections.