BMW E30 steering wheel database

A KBA number (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt approval, tied to the wheel's ABE) is cast into the back of German-market sport wheels and survives retrims and badge swaps — it is the most reliable identifier a steering wheel has. Standard factory wheels carry no KBA number at all; they are covered by the vehicle's own type approval.

Every number in this database was cross-checked against at least two independent source types: BMW's parts catalogue (ETK), BMW's own retrofit catalogue (Umrüstkatalog, Gruppe 3: Lenkräder), German ABE certificate records, forum threads where owners physically pulled their wheels and read the stamps (e30.de, E30-Talk, BMW-Syndikat), and stamped examples in period sales listings. Anything that couldn't be cross-verified is marked Unknown rather than guessed.

KBA approvals are chassis-specific: the same wheel design was approved separately for each BMW hub. KBA 70139 is endlessly repeated online as "the M-Tech 2 number", but it belongs to the E36 M-Technic II (part numbers 32 33 2 226 741 / 2 226 860 / 2 227 206; ABE certificates F547, F920 and G191 — all E36 documents). An E36-hub wheel stamped KBA 70139 will not seat on an E30 column.

The E30 M-Technic 2 is stamped KBA 70121 — confirmed by owner stamp-reports on E30-Talk and e30.de and multiple stamped listings pairing KBA 70121 with part number 2 226 086. The 385 mm M-Technic 2 (2 226 085 / 2 226 677, KBA 70114) is an E34/E32 catalogue item that physically fits but was never offered for the E30.

• SA 219 sport wheel diameter: period option lists say 380 mm, stamped examples measure 385 mm. One UK listing pairs casting 1 152 896-4 with KBA 70088 instead of KBA 70098 — most likely a seller misreading the stamp, against four independent sellers reading KBA 70098.
• M-Technic 1: KBA 70073 and KBA 70074 both appear on large fine-spline wheels pulled from E30s and E28s; the exact part-number-to-stamp mapping between the two castings is medium-confidence. One German dealer lists the KBA 70074 wheel at 380 mm against the catalogue's 385 mm.
• BMW's retrofit catalogue lists the 385 mm M-Technic 2 under KBA 70114 on its E34 pages but KBA 70088 on its E32 page — an internal inconsistency in the primary source itself.
• M-Technic 2 introduction: 1988 vs September 1989. The E30-only part number 2 226 731 is dated 09/89, which leans late but doesn't settle the earlier 2 226 086.
• Sport Evolution: the covering is marketed as Alcantara but unconfirmed by BMW, and no stamped example proves its KBA — possibly the standard KBA 70121 casting, unverified.
• Alpina: only the 360 mm three-spoke is confirmed under KBA 70064 (it is a MOMO Typ V36 variant — Alpina's own literature confirms the shared approval). The four-spoke's approval is Unknown, and diameters conflict between sources (360 vs 365 mm; 380 vs 385 mm).
• AC Schnitzer Atiwe 32 diameter: 360 mm per multiple listings vs 380 mm in one older listing — the database prints 360 mm.
• Italvolanti: the wider Formel family carries approvals KBA 70007, KBA 70008 and KBA 70031; which number maps to which diameter is unresolved, and the ATI-1's KBA 70007 attribution is the weakest of the three ATI numbers.
• KBA 70071 type stamp is reported as "Typ G 36/1", "C36" and plain "MOMO Nr. 70071" on different documents — one approval covering the 36 cm MOMO C36 family, also seen Hella-branded.
• Nardi Blackline: an RHD-only claim exists but plentiful German LHD examples contradict it.
• Victor no longer supplies replacement ABE paperwork for KBA 70028, so German registration now depends on surviving period documents.
• Racing Dynamics: every specification is single-source and no KBA number is documented at all.
• The first-generation airbag wheel (32 34 1 156 374): no authoritative description of its diameter, styling or rim material survives.

• Standard 4-spoke: a second number, 32 33 1 153 451, appears alongside 1 154 131 from 8/82 — whether it superseded the first or ran in parallel is not stated anywhere authoritative.
• Airbag changeover: US cars from 12/87; Europe and Japan from 09/88; M3 and 320is a year earlier, from 09/87. From 09/92 the PU airbag wheel became standard on the European Cabrio and Touring, the two bodies that outlived the sedans.
• M-Technic 2: the E30-only catalogue number 32 33 2 226 731 appears from 09/89 alongside the shared 2 226 086.
• Petri made no E30-era sport wheels — its sport wheel line ended in 1977. Any Petri wheel on an E30 today sits on a modern adapter.
• Most German tuners did not make their own wheels: Hartge, Zender and Alpina wheels were made by MOMO; AC Schnitzer wheels by Atiwe. The KBA stamp belongs to the wheel maker, not the badge on the horn pad — verify that badge, stamp and hub all tell the same story.