You could buy cheap LED units and swap the lenses, but they'd need to be baked apart, too. Not certain if the quality is on par with OEM.
Seems cheaper to just resore the units you already have. Plenty of threads on this.

 

There are ways of polishing/restoring the lens to excellent condition. Far cheaper and easier than replacing the whole unit. Youtube has many videos.

 

I am aware of plastic polishing, but that is not what I asked about. Sounds like you have to buy fantastically-expensive headlights if you want to do OEM replacement? The HID bulbs and steering mechanism are not separate components, but are part of the headlight assembly?

 

It is a complete unit and dealer pricing for HID Adaptive units hover around $1,000 each. As Long noted above, there is polishing, non-OEM replacements, or Salvage Yard buys. That's about it!

 

Or as stated in the second post, get cheap ones, bake them apart, swap the clear lenses. Not everything requires replacing. Adaptive HID isn't affected. But it's more work than just polishing.

 

I'd recommend using a heat gun, rather than baking them apart if you go that route. A lot of small plastic pieces, wires etc. inside that may not like the heat from baking, a heat gun will allow you to direct the heat where you want it and likely be faster than baking.

 

If you managed to get the assemblies open using a heat gun Bravo! In my experience it was clear during the adhesive clean up after baking them apart that a heat gun would be more likely to burn the lens, or housing unless you have strict temperature control and can get the adhesive to hold the heat in sections, long enough to separate the two parts without cracking anything. Since it appears butyl rubber was used by the factory to seal them, it is likely heat was used also. I doubt the inside of the assembly reached the same temp as the outside. I did remove the bulbs first.

Joseph Upson, as well as some other members, have achieved outstanding results with a few materials and some personal labor.

The added benefit of separating the lens from the rest of the unit for restoral is upon resealing, the condensation issues are corrected. To each their own...

Definitely, acstudios demonstrated it best. Those spider cracks will come out with the appropriate effort if that's what you're referring to as being in the plastic. I didn't get all of them out because it was a first time effort, but the lights look great using the wipe on clear coat after prepping and the residual spider cracks are not easily seen, where before all I needed to do was get close enough.

No joke right now as we speak there is a left hand HID/Xenon refurbished assembly on Rockauto for the 2009-2015 Wagon for $209. I was trying to relay that info to acstudios but his inbox is full.

 

After having a car detailing guy look at my lights it would seem polishing isn't worthwhile. Apparently the flaws in the plastic are more than skin-deep. And I'm getting condensation in one headlight. $900/each from GMPartsDirect.com.

 

Joseph Upson, as well as some other members, have achieved outstanding results with a few materials and some personal labor.

The added benefit of separating the lens from the rest of the unit for restoral is upon resealing, the condensation issues are corrected. To each their own...

 

For $900 each I'd at least try spending $20 on sandpaper, polish and wax and try to restore them. Especially knowing that the $900 replacements are also likely to yellow and get condensation after a period of time.

Pour water over your light and look carefully around the seal, one of mine gets very slight condensation. I can see where the water is getting in via a weak spot on the seal at the top of the headlight. Once the weather warms up, I plan to take it off and reseal it.

 

While I agree $900 is extreme, and none of us want to pay it, I should also point out that availability of these headlights will disappear in coming years. At some point we're all going to wish for the ability to replace them, even at the high price. Something to keep in mind in the general context of how long one intends to keep their Gen II CTS.