European tow hitches

[sex]

Let's discuss European tow hitches. North America has two hitch designs, and they're represented by uhaul, Curt, Drawtite, and Hidden hitch. Europe has distinctly different designs which are offered by Witter, Westfalia, and an OEM option.

I'm exploring the possibility of buying a euro hitch for its seemingly superior construction and fitment.

As for the OEM option, can someone provide pictures and measurements of the tow hitch PZ408-B9552-00 receiver and swanneck (pieces Q and R in the instructions below)?

http://www.toyota-tech.eu/legacy/Toy...8-B9552-00.pdf

The instructions say it's a Brink 3939 model but I've been unsuccessful in finding more information about it aside from the install guide.

[CTScott]

The Euro ones do look nice. I saw a Yaris pulling a small camper in Italy with one. The big question, like you are asking, is what the ball diameter is? Although, if it is different and you have your own trailer, you could also purchase the European side for the trailer an bolt it on.

[sex]

So in the UK, hitches are called towbars. They fall under these combinations: flange vs swan neck, and fixed vs detachable. Prices start at about 100GBP. Several VW forums used pfjones.co.uk as their supplier.

Thule's 465500 seems to be the Brink OEM version as they're now the same company. My guess is that the ball is the Euro standard 50mm. I am more interested in the flange type since I want to make a hitch-mount tire carrier. If by chance the receiver on the detachable swan necks is 1.25", then that would be perfect.

Below is a summary of the UK offerings:

Flange, fixed

Anker E7359 http://www.ankertowbars.co.uk/shop/fitting/E7359.pdf

PCTAutomotive TY4337A http://www.pct.eu.com/automotive/Fit...df/TY4337A.pdf

Witter TY146A http://www.witter-towbars.co.uk/uMed...ons/TY146A.pdf

Flange, detachable

Witter TY146AQF http://www.witter-towbars.co.uk/uMed...ons/TY146A.pdf

Swan neck, fixed

Bosal 043-201 http://www.catalogue.bosal.com/pdf/pdf_mi/043201.pdf

PCTAutomotive TY5017A http://www.pct.eu.com/automotive/Fit...df/TY5017A.pdf

Thule/Brink 465400 http://www.thuletowbars.com/upload/m...ars/465470.pdf

Westfalia 335350 http://www.westfalia-automotive.de/f...5350691101.pdf

Witter TY146AS http://www.witter-towbars.co.uk/uMed...ons/TY146A.pdf

Swan neck, detachable

Bosal 043-204 http://www.catalogue.bosal.com/pdf/pdf_mi/043204.pdf

PCTAutomotive TY9344 http://www.pct.eu.com/automotive/Fit...pdf/TY9344.pdf

Thule/Brink 465500 http://www.thuletowbars.com/upload/m...ars/465570.pdf

Westfalia 335327 http://www.westfalia-automotive.de/f...5327691101.pdf

Witter TY146AQ http://www.witter-towbars.co.uk/uMed...ons/TY146Q.pdf