Bruce,

Thanks again for taking the time to teach this stuff--I appreciate it! I also appreciate the kind words about my old 83 GL wagon--FWIW, thats an old pic; I think it still had the Tokicos and ipd's sport springs on it at that point (1995 or so).

I really meant to take some pictures of the green strut inserts but forgot, and now it's too late. They went into my son's '91 245 on Saturday. I was replacing the strut mounts (OEM) and decided to take a look at the inserts "while I was in there." The ones on his car ("blue," "Germany," same PN as above) were pretty floppy after 200+K, so I put the green ones in . . . . I had the car buttoned back up again before I remembered the camera. Sorry about that.

One of these days I'll have to check my duty/daily driver ('91 245 with the LH3.1). I'm pretty sure the shocks and struts are original. It just turned over 180K miles today, so will likely be looking at shocks and strut inserts soon. I'll let you know if I find any green ones in there.

Not sure what I'll use on that car. I have Bilstein HDs on the 83, but as you noted, fitting them on the newer cars can be problematic. I've heard good things about the Bilstein touring strut inserts, but seem to remember hearing that the rears are noisy--something to do with the mounting holes (shackles)? Do you know if that's still the case--and if so, if there's a fix/solution?

I may have an opportunity to help a friend do the strut mounts/inserts and rear shocks on his 1982 244T (he's going to use Bilstein touring). I'll be curious to see what's currently on his car.

Thanks again for the sage advice!

Steve A-