Several years ago we decided to offer our shop customers a choice when possible, aftermarket parts or Ford factory blue box or Motorcraft red box parts.
What we found out was some of the aftermarket parts just don't have the quality our customers and our dealership demands.
The other interesting point was price, in many cases the factory maintenance parts were within 20% of lower quality aftermarket parts.
Example, brake rotors. Sometimes, the runout right out of the box was excessive. They required to be resurfaced or returned in hopes the next one would be better.
Or, 6,000 miles later the customer would come in complaining of noisy brakes or a pulsation when applying brakes.
We quickly went back to offering only one choice-factory parts.
Yes, labor is expensive. I don't know how it is in the rest of the country but here in rural Northern California our labor rate runs $120 and up.
My 2017 Ford F-150 4X4, has 70,000 miles on it. I have plenty of brake pad left and I have no noticeable distortion in the rotors. I pull a 5,000lb travel trailer about 15% of the time.
I think you will find aftermarket parts will not deliver the same result.
I did flush my brake fluid at 65,000 miles. ABS systems do much better with fresh fluid. Hygroscopic brake fluid needs to be changed. IMHO.
