[speeder]

Not to be a smart-ass but I buy parts from wherever the best place to buy them is. This varies constantly depending on the part needed, what's available, price/quality, how quickly I need it, etc., etc....

I buy a lot of parts. The bummer is that the general quality of replacement auto parts has taken a huge dump in recent years. Parts for domestic vehicles are unbelievably bad, (with rare exceptions), and names like Febi, Bosch and Lemforter that used to denote quality are now made in China or somewhere worse. It's a huge challenge to find good hard parts for my older Mercedes cars. "OEM manufacturer" means nothing when the company has been sold and the parts are no longer made in Germany.

Sorry for the side track but it's a topic that I spend a lot of time and $$ on. Carry on...