Try a baked-on ceramic coating to slick up the whole piston. Here's one I use for refinishing firearm parts:

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/2130789175/wheeler-engineering-cerama-coat-4-oz-aerosol

It's sprayed on, cured in a 300-degree oven, and the finished part is slicker than goose poop. Vigorously-applied 4-0 steel wool only dulls the finish a little- - - -it's that hard.

Jerry

"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!