The OEM radiator in my prior car was great. One hot Summer day, I took the car over to the manual auto wash. Left it idling while I washed the car. Still had some time left on the clock and thought it'd be a good idea to hose down the radiator. Well, it turns out that super-cooling hot metal is bad. About a week later it developed a tiny crack that made it suck-in air as the radiator was cooling. Having heard/read soooo many stories about replacement ones with the plastic side-tanks, I read about another purchaser in an online forum who had managed to find and acquire an all aluminum radiator; specifically for our vehicles. First thing I noticed is it was significantly heavier. Second was I noticed it had cooling lines for the automatic transmission. (mine was a manual shift) Third thing I noticed is the fan shroud wouldn't fit flush; had to flex it a bit to line up with the holes. Longer story short, this replacement, didn't last even 2% of the time that the OEM did; was leaking like mad, rotting out my radiator mounts. The lifetime warranty? Well, the manufacturer conveniently quit manufacturing them, and offered up the same standard crap that you can get from an AutoZ parts store. Ontop of that, it would take at least two weeks to pay for a box, pay for shipping, ship it, and wait for a different cheap replacement to be returned. So I just went down to the local parts store and got the standard one with plastic side tanks. Posting feedback in the forum where I originally learned about the product, it turns out that the reviewer had his first one go out in short-order too. (he just hadn't said anything until I updated his thread with my experience)
Seemed like a good product on the outset, but experience is the ultimate judge.