Abstract: The kinematic characteristics of 4 popular independent suspensions are compared and the objectives of kinematic optimization of independent suspension are investigated.Conditions for comparison and analysis are defined.The kinematic characteristics of these 4 suspensions are simulated and then optimized using Pro/Engineer.The comparison showed that the kinematic characteristics of the "double wishbone" suspension,4-Link suspension and 5-Link suspension are similar and slightly better than the MacPherson suspension.It is proposed that for kinematic optimization,for the suspension of normal light vehicle where the travel of wheel is no more than 250 mm,the change of wheel camber angle should be less than 1 degree,the change of wheel toe-in angle should be less than 0.1 degree and the side-slip of the wheel should be less than 13?mm.