Strut assembly Bilstein or Sachs

I also put MK2 Scirocco sway bars on her car, front and rear, and with Sachs struts all the way around, it handled and rode fantastic.

No experience with the b16s but I went from lowering springs on stock struts to lowering springs on b8s and it made a world of a difference.

I installed B6 struts on all four corners, top mounts, end links, and new bump stops. The suspension arms were in good shape and didn't actually need to be replaced. My car has been garage-kept and has 47k miles on it, which might explain why the rubber was in decent shape. My bump stops looked much like yours, and when I took out the front struts, I could compress them with my hands. I was basically riding on the front springs with no dampening. With the new struts, the ride is much better, and the car feels excellent over bumps. The B6 struts aren't super stiff (about 20% stiffer than B4), and the ride is similar to a factory with OEM springs.

Difference with the new b4s was night and day vs the 20 year old ones.

I don't care for stiff springs. And, Bilstein shocks/struts have always been perfect in my vehicles(ride/longevity/handling).

I purchased my 98 with ~200k miles in 2017 and had my mechanic replace all struts with 5100s. I'm currently at ~275k miles and the 5100s appear to be in good shape so holding off on replacing those again.

Bilstein 5100 struts, they’re absolutely fantastic. Have them on my FJ.

The factory Sachs struts are also pretty good. Not sure if the M-Sport got different shocks from the regular sport, but all that's left anymore from Sachs are sport struts. Unfortunately for those of us without the sport package it makes shock replacement a pain, since their resting position is shorter than stock, and makes them shorter than the spring. I never want to do that repair ever again.

I had B6 EDC front struts installed on my f31, and the same thing happened to me - the front was substantially higher after installation than it was with the OEM front struts.

B4s are trash.