Miniature towing socket?

[donkmeister]

I am planning to fit a towbar to a car which has a rear valance that forms a continuous profile upwards into the rear bumper, and therefore has no gap between the two where a folding electrics socket could be stowed. Indeed, to mount the removable towbar itself a slot needs to be cut into this valance for the socket, however there is no provision for a towing electrics connector and it seems to have been very much left to the installer. I've tried the dealer, they can't even find a towing electrics kit in the parts database. The car is definitely homologated for towing though, it has a whole section in the user manual and is plated accordingly.

I'm wary of this looking a bit gash if I hack away at the valance to make room for a swing-down socket, so I'm trying to work out what I can and can't do.

1) get a panel-mount 13-pin socket. Not a good idea, as I would either have to mount it in the valance (pointing at the road, with likely damage to any towing cables) or in the bumper itself facing backwards (which will look gash). 90-degree adapters don't seem to exist for towing sockets, otherwise I could tuck it right under out of sight.
2) cut an access hatch into the rear valance and folding the electrical socket up into the empty space. Strong likelihood that it will look gash.
3) Keep the towing socket in the boot and dangle it out when in use. Danger that I'll damage the wires unless I can find some flat cable (like they use on US 4-pin towing sockets) but I would need to ensure proper strain relief when in use (cable tie it to the removable tow-bar, perhaps?). I'm not going to be fitting caravan charging, just lights via a bypass relay, so it's low-current.
4) Use some form of smaller non-standard socket and make an adapter from that to a 13 pin.

Currently it feels like option 3 is the low-risk solution. Unfortunately there is nowhere else I could stow the electrics apart from next to the exhaust back-boxes, with all the hot meltiness that would bring.

Any other ideas? Has anyone been in a similar situation and found a good solution?

I'd rather avoid having to remove the valance when I'm towing as it's actually part of the undertray so a bit of a job to detach. Also "roof rack/box" is not an option, nor is "take a different car for your trailer-dragging jollies".

ETA Title possibly a bit misleading - when I started getting my thoughts down I was originally assuming I'd need to use a miniature panelmount connector as I hadn't considered flat cable. Mods, please feel free to change it.

[Easternlight]

Option #2 that's what I've got.
What car is it?

Edited by Easternlight on Sunday 18th August 21:21

[TwinKam]

I favour neatness too. I was fastidious in cutting 'just the right size' hole in my rear bumper for the shaft of the (bolt-on) ball to pass through. And then had the same dilemma as you, where to mount the socket.
What I've done is to mount it behind the bumper facing sideways and I made up a short (1m.?) cable with a standard male and a 'flying' female that I plug in when I want to tow. It passes it under the valence and loops over the swan-neck of the ball, I then plug the trailer male into the flying female in such a way that it doesn't drag, but has room to move.
Between tows I can secure the flying female by trapping its metal hanging-loop under the ball cover.
When I'm done with towing, the lead gets removed. Yes, a small amount of floor-grovelling with an outstretched arm is required, but it works for me.

[drmotorsport]

Whats the car, a photo would help? If it's homologated for towing then the manufacturer will likely have a list of part number required to achieve the solution. I've installed several towbars and for example on a BMW E60 550i saloon the diffuser section of bumper is replaced with another part that has a detachable hatch for the hitch and electrics. Other cars i've had to cut the bumper but usualy not visible unless you're on your hands and knees.

[vikingaero]

On nearly every car that I've had a towbar fitted by my local tow and trailer company, they've always read out the details of the cut they need to make, for example a 120mm x 50mm slot. Every time I have collected the car, the cut has always been smaller than that quoted.