Seeking advice for purchasing tail lamp assembly replacement part

[CX-9_Owner]

Hey, everyone -- I've only owned my 2014 CX-9 Touring a couple months, but I managed to crack the passenger-side real tail light lens loading furniture through the tailgate. Obviously this didn't make me very happy. I would love to fix the assembly, but I don't think that's practical, and it's rained since I did it, so there's moisture in the assembly now. So ... I'm looking to get a replacement part rather than try to jerry-rig something with my new vehicle.

1.) Has anyone tried to repair a cracked lens? (The piece where the hole is, is inside the assembly, so I could extract it with tweezers and try to super-glue it, although I'm not sure how I'd coat the cracks around it.) Is moisture a concern, or would one expect it to exit the assembly eventually?

2.) Has anyone purchased aftermarket OEM-style replacement parts for the exterior body for a recent-model CX-9? Especially lens assemblies? If so, how did it compare to the original equipment? And from whom? Do you regret not buying genuine OEM?

The best price I have found for a genuine OEM part is $150 (madza-parts.com). I have found aftermarket OEM-style versions around $105 (rockauto.com, which I've seen referenced a couple times, and a couple of eBay stores: motorblvdparts and partsdomain). I'd love to save $45 - $50, but not if it's going to be obvious that I replaced it with an aftermarket part.

For reference, the dealer told my wife $200+ for the part and another $50+ to install. (Gag.)

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[CX-9_Owner]

I just wanted to report back that I purchased the the rear tail lamp assembly from Rock Auto. After calling customer service, I decided on TYC P/N 11657500 (instead of the the "Various Manufacturers" part). It installed easily and, from the outside, it looks identical. The interior plastic -- not the lens -- looks *slightly* cheaper/thinner, but no one is going to notice. The color of the interior plastic is the same as the OEM part, which also happens to be the same as my gray exterior. For saving $100 over an OEM part from the dealer and $50 over a supposed OEM from another site, I couldn't be happier. Thanks, Rock Auto!

It also came with a new wiring harness and bulbs, but I didn't use it, b/c it seemed like more trouble than it was worth to replace it.