Phosphate coating is applied to the surface of the round bar material used in the multi-stage cold forging process for the purpose of lubrication. The film characteristics are determined according to the conditions of the phosphate film treatment process. In this study, the film properties according to the phosphate treatment conditions were defined as the coefficient of repeated friction and quantitative analysis was performed. Different friction behaviors were exhibited depending on the film properties, suggesting that optimization of the phosphate film treatment conditions is possible based on this. Finally, as a practical example, friction behavior according to the film characteristics was applied to the automotive engine bolt forming process. As a final conclusion, the need for linkage analysis with phosphating conditions for optimizing the forging process was raised. In addition, it can be seen that damage to the phosphate film should be considered in the process of predicting the limiting life of the die.