E30 Zone

Getting some new shocks for my new 2 door
Iv just wreaked a 325e that had the factory "M sport suspension"
It had abs so all of this is going into my new car
Question is the front struts are 51mm but have a small piston rod !
My other E30 has 51mm struts aswell but a fat piston rod !
So when I buy new inserts they should come with the fat rods ... Are they going to fit as normal???

maybe you should beak the struts down and see what shocks you've got and if they work as it's not easy to tell unless they are totally shot or leaking .

your new shocks will fit either of the strut legs you have providing you get the 51mm inserts .
regarding piston thickness ,the thicker the better and it sounds like one pair of the struts has uprated inserts .

Ok so pulled down the struts... The large piston struts are BMW bilsteins
While the thin ones are BOGE
The bilsteins feel look and operate far better than the others even after 27 odd years they still feel great even to the point that they are going to be swapped into my new E30
They are also rebuildable