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I lack enough professional experience to have an accurate sense of how often rebuild calipers fail early, but in the best case (and probably the majority of the time) a rebuild will be just as good as the original, and would last just as long. But of course you could get a lemon I suppose, or one that was built with inferior seals that would only last a few years. It would seem logical that rebuild quality might be contingent upon several factors that might or might not have anything to do with the brand. But in general, rebuilding calipers is not that difficult a process, especially for a pro, so I wouldn't have too many concerns in this situation.
What I do know, however, is that in general the lifetime warranties offered by Autozone, Kragen, etc., are more of a marketing tactic than an expression of superior quality. They know that the vast majority of their customers will no longer be owning the car in 3-5 years, and of those who are long-term owners of the cars only a minority will hang on to the receipts. So they know they will earn more business on account of offering the lifetime warranty than they will have to pay out because of it. So in short, the lifetime warranty sure is nice to have, but it doesn't necessarily mean the part you're getting is OEM quality. For a part that takes a lot of labor or a big hassle to replace (like the kickdown cable, timing belt, or strut inserts), I wouldn't bother with trying to get a lifetime warranty part unless I knew for sure it was also the best quality available. Replacing a brake caliper is not that labor-intensive, so I would tend to go with the lifetime warranty part, knowing that it was the last $$ I'd ever have to spend on that particular part on the car.
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