The short simulation time of characteristic based vehicle dynamics models is a great advantage, which enables the simulation in real-time. The wheel characteristics are represented through the principle of superposition of kinematic and compliance properties. These are determined either through experiments on test rigs or through the simulation of multibody systems. One assumption of this approach reposes on the fact, that the compliance of the axle systems does not change during wheel travel. However the axle stiffnesses are not constant in reality, because the loads are also applied on the deformed axle system. In this paper an approach is shown, which enables the estimation of the superposition error, how it occurs in characteristic curve based vehicle dynamics models.