[labmixz]

So, the front drive shaft replacement is fairly straight forward, so the question isn't really about that.

It's more towards the reliability of non-OEM drive shafts, as the price difference is enough to get me thinking.

As OEM front-drive shaft (#26208605867) is basically $1,000.
Non-OEM (and semi-unknown manufacturers from what I can tell) are around $150-$400.

How reliable are the aftermarket front drive shafts? Does anyone have any experiences?

There's a huge difference in that price range, I've already poured way more money into this X3 than I should have. I'm semi-fine with something ~$500 or less, but $1k+, just not going to do it, it's a shame BMW can't just give the part numbers so you could rebuild the U-joint .

Quick Background: Vanos bolts backed out, BMW initially said they would cover the repair costs, then refused to cover it under the recall because it was previously checked and had no issue at the time. I repaired the vanos and all timing components. A month later timing jumped, turns out when the vanos issue happened, it caused something with the intake cam, so it just kept jumping timing. To my surprise the intake cam bearing is molded in, so that left me with very little options. I got a low-mile working engine, swapped over all the new vanos components and put the "new" engine in the vehicle, things have been fine for a good bit. Now the U-join on the front drive shaft has started to go (almost 100k on the drive shaft).