Just picked up a cpo lx570 2018. I use a garden trailer to haul stuff pretty much every week. So typically i leave the ball in the receiver

i notice the LX has a pretty panel to go over the receiver. But when you take off the panel, it does not look very refined.

has anyone found a way to “beautify” the receiver hitch area, so it will look good enough to just leave the ball in all the time?

 

A hitch will prohibit the use of the "pretty panel". I'm not aware that hitches need to look "refined"...

 

not the hitch. the bumper area +/- 6 inches from the receiver. with the plastic pane in place it is smooth and matches the color of the bumper. with the panel removed, you see the black hitlch, and (in my case) the inside of the white bumper area formed in an odd way, with screw holes exposed.

its llke i need to make a new white panel, with a square hole in it for the ball hitch to pass thru.

i do not have the car home yet, i will post a pic tomorrow to show you what i mean. it just looks crappy.

 

never mind, i found one:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/18457758621...75.c101224.m-1

 

i have not bought that plastic piece yet, because i can not figure out how the safety chains attach thru that small square hole.

i think i would have to hack away at it to make it actually work.

i was thinking of making something myself, maybe just a rectangular aluminum plate that is painted white like my bumper, but hides the whole mess of the actual hitch receiver....

 

You could make two small holes in the bottom of the cover and thread safety chain extender straps through it, and then just attached your chains to the strap loops.

https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories...-910648-8.html

 

or maybe just add on the threaded C-links if they will reach out thru the bottom.
i can cut a slot in the bottom that pretty much would not show.

too bad my lx is white, if it were black with a black bumper, you probably would not even notice the receiver with the plastic cover removed.

 

Don't buy those covers that mentioned above. It is not fitted. There are two version of trailer receiver for LX570. The asian version is like what shown below, the trailer receiver is shorter and the OEM cover does not extend out. If you take a look at our US version LX570, you will find the trailer receiver is longer and the OEM cover extends out a little bit which makes these cover not compatiable with US version. I also checked with them if they made a version for US lx570 but the answer is no.

 

I use a garden trailer and a bike rack (very heavy duty) for 4 mtbs. Honestly this has never bothered me much in the last 14 years

 

i drove my RX350 for years with a ball in the trailer hitch receiver, and thought nothing of it (except when i walked into it with my shin!)

but for some reason, the LX570 is "too pretty" to leave a big receiver hitch in black contrasted with the white bumper. it just looks wrong to me.

 

here is what the hitch looks like without the cover, and the cover piece that came with the car:





it just does not look very refined.
i could put the blank cover back every time i am done towing, but the cover does not seem to be the type that would withstand installing/removing a hundred times or so.

it might be better to fashion some sort of magnetic hold down, for that white cover using four really strong rare earth magnets?

 

@halovoa i see what you mean. my cover (above) "bulges out" a little.