Whiteline Chassis Talk 6 - Effect of ALK (WALK) or, how does it work?

[Whiteline Jim]

G'day everyone,

There's always a lot of talk about the workings of the ALK, WALK or Whiteline anti-lift kit. We're quite proud of our part in creating the product category in the 90's but we've also had a lot of questions about how and why its works.

In answer, we asked our engineers to put together a tech paper to explain the math and physics behind it. Below is a copy of the full paper but I’ve also added an extract of the conclusion which sort of sums up how and why.

The effect of lowering the % anti-lift / anti-dive
If the suspension has 100% anti-dive / anti-lift, then all the longitudinal load transfer experienced when braking and accelerating is carried through the control arm, leaving the springs unloaded and no deflection present. If there is 0% then the springs take the entire load, giving full spring deflection.

By lowering the % the front suspension becomes “softer” under acceleration or braking.

....continues...

Conclusion:A softer front suspension during acceleration and braking will even out the load on the front tires, giving a higher total cornering load available or more front grip. This will lead to less understeer when cornering under power or brakes.

Softer front rate will also allow better wheel tracking over rough roads, keeping the wheels in contact with the ground.

The drawback of these is the amount of pitch and roll increase that will be seen. This can affect the front suspension geometry if there is a very large amount of pitch and roll.

Hope that helps with the understanding.

Cheers
Whiteline Jim
www.whiteline.com.au