I've had bxbuilt retrofits that weren't bad but also weren't that good. Mismatched lenses(one from a 96-98, the other from 99-02), glue seeping out around the entire housing but still wasn't sealed. The higher color temperature(6000k) meant they were worse than halogen/lower temperature...
It really depends on the shop more than anything. I've only used that shop a couple of times and after that experience I read online reviews of other people complaining of them pulling super nit-picky stuff like this. I just won't go back to them again.
I was recently failed in VA with bxbuilt headlights. Lows don't turn off when the highs are engaged, and this shop had a thing against anything LED. Had to buy another set of headlights and tail lights to pass.
I flushed the entire system in prep for the new rad, and as far as I could tell it wasn't clogged/full of crud. It even had green before the previous owner flushed it and re-filled it with toyota red. Now whether the aluminum one is a better design I couldn't tell you, but it is keeping coolant...
For what it's worth it has been running 10 degrees F cooler everywhere. Sitting in traffic with AC on. Before with the OEM rad it would sit at roughly 195, and now it rarely tops 185.
I recently installed one (edit: the liland global) and it fit perfectly. The only real "issue" is the mounting tabs were slightly tweaked for the fan shroud and I had to lightly thread every bolt before tightening down, but that's it. It also doesn't have the tabs for it to hang like the OEM...