Best rocker arms ?
I've run 40,000+ miles on an engine that I built with aluminum crane roller rockers with no breakage or undue wear. This was on a 400M ford with stud mount rockers and open spring pressures were under 350#. I sold the car and last I heard the guy had to replace the crank and bearings (I told him he would need to due to a crappy rebuilt PAW crank that I used when I built the engine) and was still cruising strong with the original valvetrain. This may not apply to shaft mounted rockers as the stud mount rockers rotated on a captive roller bearing. This is just my personal experience, and your mileage may vary, but I was impressed enough by these rockers that I again used Crane rollers in my 360 build, which I just dropped into the truck this past weekend. Once this thing is on the road and I rack up the miles, I'll keep everyone updated.
I have no personal experience with the stainless steel rockers from Comp Cams or other manufacturers, but Hughes Engines has an article on their web site regarding severe galling problems due to the effect of steel on steel wear properties on non-bushed SS rockers. Here's the link:
http://www.hughesengines.com/general/techArticleDetail.asp?articleID=1000007
They also have an interesting rocker arm tech article here too:
http://www.hughesengines.com/general/techArticleDetail.asp?articleID=1000046
These guys are obviously trying to make some money selling their own rockers, but it's interesting reading nevertheless, so I'll let you all make your own informed decisions.