I had Bilstein monotubes on a '76 2002 and decided they were too harsh so I swapped in some Boge/Sachs TurboGas. The car rode like a Buick with the Boges. Swapped the Bilsteins back in about 2 weeks later.

The 2002 had a broken Bilstein on the back (wouldn't compress past 1/2 way). Picked up a couple of used ones from another car and one of those was also broken the same way. Strange, but I did end up with a good pair and neither of those ever failed.

Tried Bilsteins on my '88 325iS and it rode a bit stiffer than OE but was fine aside from them lifting the front end 1/2". The OE Boge struts on that car had some kind of internal rebound spring to keep them from easily extending. Never seen that on a strut before or since.

It'll be interesting to hear Jeff's ride comparison impression.