In my daily job I change a lot of suspension parts,and most pattern parts seem to come from one place and then just packaged in a box that the suits the selling company. I have seen the quality of the rubber on all suspension parts drop very recently. Some have perished within six months of fitting. Some of these parts where not cheap pattern parts, but very good named pattern parts. If you can buy old stock pattern parts that would be my advise.
I agree buying new parts these days is like Russian roulette except that the odds of buying a crap Chinese component are much higher than getting shot! Luckily I suppose for the moment beta parts are often quite old stock anyway or still made in Italy as demand isn't very high. eBay is a good place to buy, tatty boxes that have spent 20 years on a motor factor shelf fill me with the most confidence and are often a cheap buy too. Sadly I think old stock will run dry then we might all struggle or have to pay crazy prices like those that sometimes pop up from eBay.it
After market components for modern cars are a real headache quality is rarely satisfactory and original equipment always cost a fortune whatever make, even those marketed as OE equivalent quality are often garbage.
