The Day before I discovered the broken timing belt idler, I had bought something called an Anti-Lift Kit, or ALK for short. An ALK replaces the control arm bushings and alters the front suspension geometry. The reason to install these is for better handling. What they do is add caster (which improves turn in and dynamic camber), maintain dynamic alignment settings with the stiffer bushing, and most importantly remove the anti-lift and anti-dive built into the suspension.

Q: But wait, if it's called an anti-lift kit, then why does it remove anti lift? Also what the heck does anti-lift even mean?

A: I don't really know why it's called that. I guess it's easier than Anti-Anti-Lift Kit. But really I guess it works because it's a kit that affects anti-lift. Not a kit that creates anti-lift.

So anyway, the anti lift and anti dive are the characteristics of the geometry of the front suspension that resist brake dive and front end lift under acceleration. Some of the lift and dive forces are transferred into the chassis (which doesn't flex much) instead of the struts and springs.

By removing these anti-lift and -dive characteristics, the front end is softened up under braking and acceleration. That gives the front end more grip. So the result is that the car understeers much less when accelerating out of a corner. Subarus have a tendency to understeer, primarily because of the fact it is AWD. When you are trying to accelerate and turn at the same time, you have all four wheels powering the car forward, and the fronts have the additional task of turning the car. Naturally they're going to run out of traction first. Whiteline's Subaru catalog seems to be is primarily aimed at reducing understeer. The ALK, roll center adjuster, and swaybars for example all do their part and making the car handle better. Anyway, onto the install:

The anti lift kit is that thing in the middle. The other stuff I'll discuss elsewhere. It replaces the rear control arm bushing, shown here:

Step one is to remove the existing parts. You need really big 19 and 22mm wrenches. This should be done with the front of the car lifted in the air so the suspension is unloaded.

Here's the stock bushing compared to the new one:

You can see how the mounting point has been moved down and outward. The downward position change of 19mm is what removes the anti-geometry in the suspension. The outward movement adds 0.5 degrees of positive caster by moving the ball joint forward.

Once the old one is off you clean off the control arm, grease everything up, and put on the new one:

Then you lower the car and tighten the bolts with the suspension loaded. They have to be very tight.

Okay that's all there is to it. Driving around with this makes a world of difference. It's incredible how much harder you can accelerate out of corners. The front end just sticks when it used to get vague and start to push. An additional benefit is that the stiffer bushing really improves braking feel and the chassis response overall. There's no longer a soft gel-filled bushing that has to transmit the suspension movements to the chassis.

In conclusion, if you have a Subaru, and care about the handling, GO BUY AN ALK RIGHT NOW. Get this one, which is the Whiteline Sport version. The knockoffs do who knows what to geometry and some don't have the bushings angled to compensate for the change.