To your point. Subaru and many other manufacturers use KYB strut assembly's as built from day one. My Subaru has the same 2008 spring and saddle mount ,boot. that came with the car. I.m sure they are nit like new however are quiet and don't bind. I replaced the struts only with Monroe, 6 years ago which which I considered a mistake I should have gone with KYB quick strut i was telling myself. Your KYB replacement had some plastic parts and was a epic failure. I read another post that spoke about a Delphi alternator that was purchased and installed. It only lasted a few year twice when the OEM Delphi lasted say 13. So is the OEM Delphi designed to have a longer life cycle? Simple economic says how much more money can they make by building a Economy version in there name using existing machinery. I would be curious to know if the Mini and the Delphi have the same part numbers.