House vs. aftermarket "brand" name front wheel bearings. (opinions wanted)

[Gizmo42]

Its really difficult to NOT get Chinese bearings these days. All the major top brands buy some of their bearings from there now. It's pretty much a crap shoot of which plant your bearings actually came from.

I havent had any issue with anything I've ordered from Rock Auto. I did just have to do a return on some lower control arms but only because I found out after they shipped there are 2 different ball joint sizes for the model of Volvo I have depending on when it was built and the ones I ordered were the wrong ones. Returned with no problem and full refund (no restocking fee), just had to pay shipping.

[89Vette]

The job was completed today. The 89k bearings had a bit of rust/corrosion so I installed the "National" brand bearings. The results feels smooth and improved.

Again, one of them is marked "Made in Japan".. The other, "Made in Spain". This is despite their being badged under the same "National" brand.

Hopefully, they'll work well. So...I ended up betting on the higher-priced route. The bearings along cost a bit over $200 total.

Ouch.