BMW option codes: what 337, 704, 2NH and 552 mean for parts

BMW option codes: one code per factory option

BMW’s German price list for the 3 Series Touring, dated August 2022, prints a code beside every option. The M Sport package is 337, the M Sport package Pro 33B, the panoramic glass roof 402 and heated front seats 494. Codes mix digits and letters, and each one names a single option or package.

BMW’s service bulletins write the same codes with SA in front and a leading zero. A 2023 bulletin for a steering wheel airbag recall on the E39 5 Series and the E53 X5 names the M sports steering wheel as SA0710, and the 2022 price list prints the M leather steering wheel as 710. Coding lists add a third form, with an S in front and an A behind, so 710 becomes S710A. Read 710, SA0710 and S710A as one code.

Option codes that change BMW parts

Plenty of codes cover comfort items, such as heated seats or ambient lighting, and never touch a brake or suspension order. The ones below change hardware. All come from the same 2022 price list.

• 704, M Sport suspension: 10 mm lower than standard, with firmer damping, a moderately higher spring rate and stiffer anti-roll bars.
• 2VF, Adaptive M suspension with variable sport steering: electronically controlled dampers, also 10 mm lower.
• 2NH, M Sport brakes: four-piston fixed aluminum calipers at the front and single-piston floating calipers at the rear, painted blue with the M logo.
• 3M2, the same M Sport brakes with high-gloss red calipers.
• 552, adaptive LED headlights: matrix LED units with two light modules in each headlight, in place of the standard bi-LED lamps.
• 3AC, the factory tow hitch.

One package, several parts lists

The M Sport package, 337, trips people up most, because it bundles styling and chassis items under one code. In the 2022 3 Series Touring list it brings the M aerodynamic package, 715, the M leather steering wheel, 710, and the M Sport suspension, 704, as standard.

The package still leaves room for choice. On some engines a buyer could take the standard suspension, code 225, at no extra cost, or pay for the Adaptive M suspension, 2VF. Two cars with 337 on the list can therefore sit on different springs and dampers, and only the full code list tells them apart.

The M Sport package Pro, 33B, comes on top of 337. It adds the red M Sport brakes, 3M2, as standard, with the blue 2NH set as a no-cost alternative on most engines.

Finding the option codes for a BMW

BMW keeps each car’s options in its vehicle order, the factory record of how the car was built. Coding tools edit a copy of that order stored in the car when someone retrofits an option, so the list a scan tool reads can differ from the factory one.

For the factory list, decode the VIN in BMW ETK. The catalog reads the build record behind the VIN, shows the option codes with the production date and filters each diagram by them, so a car with M Sport brakes shows the M Sport discs and pads. Our BMW ETK guide explains how the part numbers read.

For older cars, BMW Group Classic lists the factory options on the birth certificate it issues for BMWs built from the 1980s onward. Our post on the BMW build sheet by VIN covers that route.

Codes from forums and sellers

A code copied without the car it came from tells you little. Codes also shift with color and package, as the brakes show: 2NH and 3M2 describe one caliper design in two colors.

Check any code list a seller sends against a VIN decode before you order. Cars get retrofitted, and a list borrowed from a sister car can differ by the one code that matters for your job.