Racingline Front Alloy Control Arms With Bushes

Racingline Front Alloy Control Arms With Bushes – VWR45G501

The Racingline Front Alloy Control Arms are a complete front suspension upgrade designed to sharpen handling, reduce weight, and unlock geometry adjustments that simply aren’t possible with the standard parts. Developed and tested in motorsport, they replace the soft, non-adjustable factory arms with a stiffer, lighter, and far more capable setup.

If you’ve ever felt your car wash out into understeer mid-corner, or noticed a vague, imprecise feel through the steering wheel under hard driving, this is the upgrade that addresses the root cause.

Why Upgrade the Factory Control Arms?

The standard MacPherson strut front suspension on the VW Group ‘A5’ platform is a sensible factory compromise. It works well enough for daily driving, but it has two clear weaknesses for performance use:

• The cast steel arms are heavy and offer no meaningful adjustment for camber (the inward tilt of the wheel) or caster (the angle of the steering axis), both of which affect cornering grip and steering feel.
• The soft rubber bushes flex under load, allowing the geometry to shift mid-corner and introducing a delay between your steering input and the car’s response.

Racingline’s arms are CNC-machined from aluminium alloy, making them considerably stiffer than the original cast steel parts while being 44% lighter. Reducing unsprung weight (the weight of components not supported by the springs) is one of the most effective ways to improve suspension response, ride quality, and grip over uneven surfaces.

Motorsport-Specification Polyurethane Bushes

The kit comes complete with firmer polyurethane bushes in place of the factory rubber. These hold the suspension geometry far more accurately under cornering and braking loads, giving you a much more direct connection to the road. Expect noticeably crisper turn-in and clearer feedback through the steering. Do bear in mind that firmer bushes will transmit a little more road noise and vibration than standard, which is a fair trade for the gain in precision.

Adjustable Geometry

The real advantage of these arms is the ability to fine-tune your suspension to suit your driving:

• Negative Camber: The slotted design adds an extra 0.5 to 1.0 degree of static negative camber, which puts more tyre contact on the road during hard cornering. This is the single most effective change for reducing understeer and improving front-end grip.
• Caster: Offset rear bushes provide an additional 1.0 degree of caster, improving high-speed stability, steering self-centring, and overall feedback.

For track day drivers, these adjustments allow you to dial in a properly aggressive setup. For road use, even a modest amount of added camber and caster transforms how the car feels through faster bends.

Fitment

Designed for VW Group ‘A5’ platform vehicles, including popular models such as the Golf Mk5 and Mk6, Scirocco, Audi A3/S3, and SEAT Leon. Please use the vehicle lookup tool or check the Vehicle Fitment tab to confirm compatibility with your specific model and year.

Important: A full four-wheel alignment is essential after fitting these arms. Without proper geometry setup, you won’t see the benefits and may experience uneven tyre wear.

At a Glance

• Lightweight alloy construction – 44% lighter than standard
• Considerably stiffer than the cast steel factory arms
• Motorsport-specification polyurethane bushes included
• 0.5 to 1.0 degree of additional negative camber adjustment
• 1.0 degree of additional caster from offset rear bushes
• Track-developed, road-usable upgrade

As an authorised UK dealer for Racingline Performance, Progressive Parts supplies these control arms direct from the manufacturer, complete with all bushes and hardware required for installation.

Applications

Please note, customers are wholly responsible for checking fitment for their vehicle.