Most regular consumers do not understand the sneaky poop that 3rd party auto parts manufacturers pull on the general public. Besides some of them having up to 3 grades of parts (Service Grade or Economy, Daily Driver and Professional Grades) some manufacturers often will hide their grading system by giving their lower grades a softer name, like "Original" or call the entire line by a different name like Mevotech's "Auto Extra" line they used to have. A long time ago, Mevotech even made their horrible Auto Extra parts look identical to their Supreme X Factor parts with their signature blue grease bulb and some unscrupulous sellers would exchange boxes so they could send out the cheap parts when the customer paid for the Supreme parts (which happened to me).

One thing to watch for is what country the parts are made. Ball jointed parts and bearings made in China often do not hold up well and have you doing the repair twice. Not all parts made in China are bad though. It really depends upon the quality control exerted by the manufacturer and by the consignor of the parts AND how diligently the consignor inspects and corrects defects when their parts arrive from China to their facilities.

This leads me to another deep, dark and potentially dangerous secret of the 3rd party Chinese-made part (and other parts of Asia) that you need to be aware of; The on-line auction! Ready?  Now, I need to preempt this with "this does NOT happen all the time and reputable companies wouldn't do this on purpose", but it still happens more than you'd think.

When a load of auto parts that are found to be substandard (ie. not up to snuff) which don't meet the company's quality standards, they often will ask the Asian factory to take them back, however, they rarely go back. They usually work out a deal where the parts end up staying in this country due to the high cost of the return shipping. The Chinese factory usually gives them a mega-deal on the substandard parts or on next "corrected" batch just so they don't have to take them back.

So what happens to these substandard parts? Well, it depends on the company of course, but sometimes they're sold in lots to individuals that buy Amazon returns in bulk. Now, unfortunately, these parts are in the hands of someone that doesn't even know what's wrong with them, doesn't care and will sell them as lower cost factory firsts than than legit sellers on Amazon. If it's a generic part with no traceability, it often ends up on Ebay and other auctions. It can also end up on Amazon now that Amazon sells direct from the manufacturer.

All this can be good and bad. It really depends on what makes the parts substandard... is the color just off or is there some other visual problem that doesn't affect performance? Or is it a ball and socket that have too much play or are not made uniform and are very prone to premature wear, thus, causing a safety concern? Is the company willing to put out product that may fail? Well, probably not the major players, but some of the smaller unknown companies, especially ones that do not have a traceable box or label on the part often do make it to eBay and Amazon. This is why you need to do your best at recognizing substandard parts out of the box. Inspect the bejeezus out of the part, and if it looks shoddy or bent in shipping or doesn't fit its application... send it right back!

On the other side of the coin, you can get excellent deals on these parts if you know what you're doing. If you know how important or unimportant the part is to your safety, and you know how to change it out yourself at low cost, then maybe these parts can work for you?  Sometimes reputable sellers will tell you what's up with the part and does a good job at making sure the part is okay for your car. 

Oh, here's another sneaky thing I found recently.... Gates makes excellent belts of all kinds for cars and trucks. I use their "extended use" blue timing belts which incidentally are made in China. Oddly, this is the ONLY Chinese part I buy for my Japanese car, but I am a DIYer. These blue belts are made to exacting standards and have never let me down. Gates also makes timing belt kits for my car that include the tensioner bearing and idler bearing along with some springs and other small parts. What I have seen is the kit's box will say "Made in USA", except they sneak in one or both Chinese-made bearings instead of the excellent Japanese KOYO bearings that you get when you buy the individual parts from them. Not only is this sneaky, I believe it's illegal- well, it used to be back when we had a functional country. But I digress, be aware of what you're buying and return anything that isn't right. Then, COMPLAIN to the company that makes it and the one that sold it to you. Do not be a sheep or it will only get worse. Bahhhh