Opinions on aftermarket brands? What to avoid?

[TridenTBoy]

I've got like 10 different things I need to do to my car. So, I'm out here looking at brands and unfortunately - it's not super trivial to find the information with the state of Google these days. (The search quality has deteriorated infinitely)

I've got to replace my front and rear shocks. I'm looking at going with the Bilstein B8s for front and rear - but now I'm thinking, "Well, I need to replace the additional parts... I don't want to go with OEM because it's massively marked up." But then I don't know what brand to go with for what. Same for the valve cover + gasket I need to replace as it's leaking so bad that any time I take a high G turn - the car is guaranteed to push smoke out like crazy.

For the valve cover, Rockauto alone has:
- Uro (ÜRO)
- Ultra-power
- Beck/Arnley (Beck Arnley)
- Vaico
- Dorman
- Rein
and that doesn't include all the obvious random ebay and amazon listings like jdmspeed, mitzone, or whatever. (I'm gonna stay away from those since this is my DD and I have limited time)

If this was just $10 - it wouldn't be a big deal but we're talking $140 for Uro vs $600+ for OEM from FCP Euro. That's a huge difference!

I've got other things I need to replace too like the Oil Filter Housing Gasket (again!). Last time I went with something from Bavarian Auto Parts but now I'm on RockAuto and see Ultra-power vs Uro. $4.13 vs $8.83. I'm inclined to go with Uro because the cost is negligible compared to the work involved and I have seen that brand before and ultra-power just sounds so bad as a brand name with no context.

I guess what I'm asking is - is there a known list of brands you should avoid? I'm going to try avoiding the random ebay/amazon listings. This isn't one of my project cars/bikes - so I need to ensure there is a minimum level of QA.

[cdogg]

What VC did you go with in the end? Trying to decide between OEM and Rein myself.

[rick_flying_machine]

I did my VC last year and my Indy shop recommended to go OEM. From his experience, aftermarket is a gamble and since it's not an easy job to do, it's not worth the risk of having leaks and redoing the whole thing again.

I've used Uro and Rein for other less critical parts though and they are fine (cooling lines, power steering reservoir etc.).