Drawing on his training in mechanical engineering and automotive technology and three decades developing passenger car suspensions for BMW, Matchinsky surveys the kinematics, elasto-kinematics, and design methods for vehicle wheel suspensions. He uses his Theorem of Virtual Work to explain such matters as systematics, kinematic analysis, tire properties, and springing mechanisms. He also discusses how traction and braking events, steering, and cornering are affected by the suspension itself and by driveline elements such as the driveshaft, universal joints, and hub reduction gears. He includes only those equations necessary for the theoretical background, preferring diagrams and schematic drawings, and has dropped many of the graphical methods that dominated the 1987 first edition. The English is translated from the second edition of Fadfnhrungen der Stratsenfahrzeuge published by Springer-Verlag in 1998. The US distribution is by ASME. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)