Another variable for me is how long are you planning on holding onto the car? If you’re just going to keep it another year, or maybe two, you don’t really need parts with long warranties. But if you’re going to keep the car for a long time, then perhaps a mid-range part will do if you can’t afford top-of-the-line.
FOr what it’s worth, I’ve ordered parts from Rock Auto, and have never had any problems with them. As texases mentioned, their web site is actually a pretty decent reference, even if you don’t plan to buy from them.
If a part failure is going to cause my wheel to fall off or my brakes to disappear, I get the good stuff.
If a part failure will only cause my radio to stop or my visor to come loose, I go for price.
If there’s a third-party sanctioning body for something, such as the API, ASE, or a regulating federal body, I go for the least costly one that meets the certifying body’s standard.
The McParts stores sometimes stock a cheap part under such names as Value-craft and Econo, etc which are sometimes one step above junk but the Duralast and Master Pro seem to be quality products. I was hesitant to use those off brands and stuck with Moog for years unless there was nothing else readily available. When the off brands that I installed didn’t come back to bite me on fleet vehicles I felt comfortable using them. There were a few occasions that when the OE part and the off brand replacement were compared side by side the after market part was lacking and rejected. And in particular I recall a new lower control arm that was significantly lighter than the original and the weight difference was obviously in the steel arm. Most professional mechanics take a great deal of concern for the integrity of their work and would refuse to install parts that appear to be unsafe.
As the OP can hopefully see, it is really hard to answer this question. Years ago my local car parts places were clearly separated into “serious places mechanics go” and “dimestore McParts stores.” Even the serious places still had 2 choices of parts, OEM quality and bargain. The McParts stores sold bargain and “sell the car withing 6 month” parts.
All the chain stores (except Napa) fit into the McParts store category for many parts. It is tough to find quality. I use RockAuto like a lot of us to determine which parts are the cheapies and which are not. The part numbers usually don’t change even if the brand name does. Notice that a “Duralast DS-3562” is the same part as a “ProPart DS-3562” in the “Economy” section of RockAuto’s listing (made-up number).
RockAuto is very good about returns though. They sent me a part marked incorrectly (V6 brake rotor marked as a V8 part) and they paid for the return shipping. If you can afford to have your car down for a couple of days and as a reference they are great.