Well, much can be said about the benefits of choosing wisely concerning WHO you pick to work on your car, I guess. But without having the benefit of a crystal ball and someone qualified to be able to read it, regardless of the care you try to take in making such decisions, things can go into disaster mode through no real fault of your own.
As for second guessing the engineers, well, one aspect that should be kept in mind is that one of the constraints placed on engineers at GM is *cost*. Quite simply if they have to choose between a part that is "adequate" and will only last comfortably through the warranty period, and one that is "better" and will last the lifetime of the car, and the "better" part costs $100 more, guess what choice they have to make? For a single car that me or you will work on, that's really a no-brainer. Most of us would go for "better" given the opportunity and choice. But with a GM engineer, who has to consider that his bosses are going to look at that $100 multiplied times each vehicle in the projected run of vehicles using that part, well, you can pretty much bet on getting that "adequate" part incorporated into the design.
So yeah, sometimes the plan to make something "better" doesn't go as planned and hindsight has you wishing for a time machine to go back in time with and kick your own butt soundly for such a harebrained idea. But be that as it may, some people prefer to have a unique car, and not the same exact thing that everyone else who bought the same model and options has sitting in their own garage. It's just that some will go much more overboard in this pursuit than others, I guess.
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