Did a failed spring necessarily damage the shock?
 

I've an '89 E30.

Driving to the neighborhood grocery store, as I slowly entered the parking lot up the slight ramp incline, I heard a loud 'bang' from my rear left wheel well, followed by a whole lot of rattling/squeaking.

I immediately limped it home, ~ 1/2 mile.

The left rear spring had actually snapped in half (!?) , and popped out the shock tower mount.

I've replaced the mounts on both rear sides with Rogue Engineering mounts, and ordered new spring/pads set for the rear-end.

Once that spring failed, the suspension I suppose bottomed out, fully (?) compressing the shock.

When I pulled out the shock to replace the mount, it appeared ok to visual inspection -- not bent, at least.

Other than wait-n-see after I pop the new springs in and test-drive, what's the likelihood that this event in fact damaged the shock (it's a Bilstein Sport, if that matters at all)?

I know bottoming out / full compression *CAN* damage a shock, I just dunno if it's a forgone conclusion ...

you should see if you can compress the shock at all. I've had the same thing happen on my old E30. Seized the shock.

What kind of springs are they? Stock?

atm it's up on a jack stand waiting for the springs (Dinan Stage2 linear rate), but , I did a quick check with a jack under the trailing arm, & it *seems* to appear that I can compress it a bit ...

Remove the shock and push it down fully. If it pops back up smoothly, then you're probably ok.