[The HACK]

Struts in the front, shocks in the rear.

Based on your mileage, rotors should be replaced with the brake pads. Unless the rotors have been replaced before. There’s a minimum thickness spec stamped on the rotor hat, you won’t know if they need replacing too unless you measure.

Rule of thumb is, BMW rotors need to be replaced for every 2 sets of pads. They’re low in carbon count and are on the SOFT side. If your rotor is warped, I.e. the surface is out of round enough to cause vibration while braking, and not caused by pad deposit, they need to be replaced regardless of thickness because BMW vented rotors are too thin to “turn” and lathe.

As to whether or not the new shocks or struts will blow again if you run over a pothole, that’s all up to you. But on the busted strut, when you run over a pothole next time, because the strut can no longer effectively dampen the forces generated by the spring compacting upon impact, the damage will be extensive and will likely lead to tens of thousands of dollars in a cracked strut tower and bent control arm and whatnot. IMO a good working damper is a good insurance against that sort of catastrophic pothole damage.

In my PERSONAL opinion and experience, by putting off regular maintenance on you car (any car) like new brakes and shocks, you’re basically inviting a significant risk in a far more costly failure down the line. Skipping a $500 repair in the hopes that said part won’t fail catastrophically is only going to increase the chances that WHEN said part fails, it’ll cost you 5-10x the money to repair the aftermath.

In fact that’s pretty much true in ALL aspect of life.