You CAN bend the arms
Bending the arms is probably a better way to go. Leaving them straight leads to putting the end link joint somewhere in the middle of the lower control arm, and unless you've planned for that, the arm is probably not stiff enough and will flex and/or bind. Also, for tuning, a smaller bar closer to the ball joint near where the coil spring forces apply is more ideal.
You can bend aluminum arms (once only) and they will be fine. Stock Car Products will even bend them for you from a faxed drawing. Or, if you're worried about metal fatigue from the bending operations, you can have the arms normalized and then heat treated again.
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