The quarter car test rig is designed and constructed for testing the performance of a vehicle active suspension system. The performance of the optimal variable structure controller is tested to compare with those of a passive suspension system and the simulation result. The dynamic characteristics of the PCV(pressure control valve) is tested, and based on this result, the lead compensator is designed for reducing the dynamic effects of the PCV. The performance of an active suspension system with the compensator gives almost that of an ideal active suspension system. From the frequency response analysis of which input is a white noise, the active suspension system shows the better performance than a passive suspension system around 1Hz which is the natural frequency of the sprung mass.