The handling of a vehicle is crucial to the perception of its dynamic characteristics, such as comfort, stability, composure, sportiness, and precision. Kinematics and elasto-kinematics, also known as Kinematics and Compliance (K&C), form the basis of an automobile's handling characteristics. Kinematics focuses on the movement of suspension components, including wheels, axles, and linkages, and how these movements relate to the vehicle's body motion. Compliance refers to the suspension's ability to deform under load, primarily due to the flexibility of springs, bushings, and other elastic components. Elastomer bushings, as flexible elements in the kinematic chain, significantly impact K&C and require a detailed study. Suspension bush stiffness is typically measured through static and dynamic tests, in various directions - radial, axial, torsional, etc. Tests involve applying a force or torque and measuring the resulting deflection and/or rotation. These measurements are used to determine the bush's stiffness characteristics, which are crucial for suspension design and analysis. The forces or torques the bushes are subjected to during these measurements are typically on the higher end of the spectrum of what the bush is expected to withstand during its operation. However, the normal forces which the bush will encounter during city or highway driving are usually much lower than the ones it was measured for. Herein lies a problem. Elastomers, due to their inherent viscoelasticity, exhibit a behavior known as the Payne effect. This causes a decrease in the stiffness of the elastomer with an increase in the strain amplitude. In short, the stiffness of the bush during its normal driving conditions is, at times, considerably different than the stiffness used during the design and analysis of the suspension/axle. This paper studies the Payne effect on axle K&C and vehicle handling. A multi-body dynamics (MBD) axle model was used to determine the loads expected on the suspension bushes during normal operations. The stiffness of the bushes was then measured for these force amplitudes. The MBD model was updated with the new stiffness values, and K&C simulations were carried out. Comparing the new results with previous ones (using standard bush stiffness) showed a significant improvement, providing better correlation with the K&C measurements from the test bench. Using these K&C results in the full vehicle models made the models more accurate when compared to real-world measurements on the proving grounds. Keywords: Vehicle dynamics, K&C, suspension bush, Payne effect, MBD, simulation