I've have been working on car & trucks for a living since 1975.
I have seen many different types of starter issues.
I have also noticed that starters on cars with smaller diameter (larger gauge number) primary battery cables seem to die sooner.
The starter in my current DD is 325,000 miles old.
I have buttons on the dash to stop/start the engine.
I use these while driving through town & at lights.
When I put the buttons on the dash, (in summer 2006) I also replaced the OEM battery cables with heavier ones. I used 0gauge (single aught for you old guys) wire & made the cables to my specs.
Negative goes directly to the starter mounting bolt @ the transmission, then a daisy chain ground through the engine bay. This will cause noise in your FM stereo so use aux input or Cd's or a ground isolator module.
Positive to the starter then OEM cable to the alternator.
I've had no issues with my starter and it spins noticeably faster than a car with OEM cables.
High amperage draw kills starters.
Ohms law
Ohms Law Calculator
says that watts = amps x volts,
by reducing the amperage draw on the starter I have effectively increased the voltage to the unit and increased it's life.