In this study, the Polar UVI dataset by Kullen et al. [2002] of 74 large-scale polar arcs is reinvestigated in two respects. First, we examine the difference between regular and bending arcs. Bending arcs split from the auroral oval such that the dayside tip of the arc propagates poleward and antisunward while its nightside end remains attached to the oval. Our results show that the bending arcs identified in Kullen et al. [2002] are distinctly different from regular polar arcs and cannot be explained by existing polar arc models. A possible mechanism for bending arc formation has been proposed in Carter et al. [2015], suggesting that such features are in fact signatures of dayside reconnection. Here, we examine the data set of bending arcs compiled by Kullen et al. [2002] to investigate whether this is generally the case. It is observed that bending arcs form further Sunward than most regular polar arcs, during periods of IMF BY dominated dayside reconnection: typically, the IMF clock angle increases from 60 to 90 degrees 10-20 min before arc formation. In all cases with SuperDARN data, anti-sunward plasma flows from the oval into the polar cap are observed just poleward of bending arcs, indicative of dayside reconnection. Second, we investigate the remaining polar arcs identified by Kullen et al. [2002] to see whether recently reported characteristics of polar arcs (a significant delay in the correlation between the IMF BY component and the initial location of the arc, and strong ionospheric flows along the nightside oval) appear for each arc type, identified by Kullen et al. [2002]. OMNI solar wind data reveals that regular polar arcs (i.e. those that are not classified as ‘bending’) appear during periods of northward IMF with BZ>~|By|. The correlation between the IMF BY component and the location at which the arc forms is delayed by at least 1-2 hours, and we confirm with help of SuperDARN data that regular polar arcs are preceded by nightside ionospheric flows that originate close to the nightside anchorpoint of the arc with the oval.