Honestly its all gotten so mixed together it really doesnt matter anymore.
Ive seen moog stuff in TRW boxes and vice versa. Ive also never had a problem with moog stuff for the record.
When I worked at advance and we first took on Moog stuff they literally had us taking some parts out of TRW boxes and putting them in Moog boxes.
^ What he said..
When I worked in auto parts stores,it was a common occourance for the store to take on a different brand of parts--and often the warehouse sent a company rep to re-box all the "old brand" parts in new boxes bearing the name & part number of the new brand..
I always thought that was a deceptive practice--so did many of out customers,who were hip to this going on--one store carried "Arrow" brand water pumps and they had a high failure/defective rate,so to keep from losing a lot of garage customers, the owners decided to go to A-1 Cardone brand,which was what most of the competitors sold,and the garages preferred...
The first A-1 pump I sold came back 15 minutes later,when the garage customer called and said "nice try--but this is one of those junk "Arrow" pumps!--you guys could at least scrape off the sticker before you try pawning it off as a "good" brand...he refused to do bussiness with us after that,only if he needed something no other store had in stock would he buy from us...
Today I see and hear many mechanics who claim the "good" brands like Moog,TRW,Mquay-Norris,etc,that once had stellar reputations, are now farming out production to China and overseas suppliers,so the chances of getting a "good brand" that was made in the same factory as the bargain brands is a lot higher nowadays..many of these companies were bought out and the new owners care more about profit than quality,and only wanted the name's good reputation..
Your paying for the name,not so much for the quality..
If Rock Auto is still selling out old stock,then your chances of getting higher quality parts improves..
I have a habit of buying up front end parts and U-joints I see at swap meets and flea markets if I know the part numbers will fit my vehicles..
