The only thing that can protect your rims from potholes is taller sidewalls on your tires. Which means you can't have those big 20's with rubber band tires on there if you want them to survive in the real world. Go back to 17s or 18s with taller sidewalls, and your rims will have more cushion when you hit a pothole.

It's one of the well-known downsides to big rims with ultra-low profile tires.

The reason your back rims didn't get damaged is because when your front rims hit the hole, the force of the blow slowed the car down, and the back tires didn't hit with as much force.

Pioneers had the same problem on their wagons when they crossed the frontier.

The front carries more weight especially when your braking.

Don't be on the brake at the exact moment the wheel enters the pothole.

Low profile tires bend rims in areas where there are potholes.

If the struts are bad, the car would bounce if you press down on the front of the car in a rhythmic way.

Good shocks/struts would stop the bouncing immediately when you stopped.

The ride gets a bit stiffer with new struts. It's hard to say if they prevent rim damage,

No it won't ,you have bent rims because you hit the potholes. you must have hit the potholes pretty hard to have bent your rims.

I recently bought 20" rims on my 1986 Buick century limited 3.8l v6... The ride is smooth I've never changed the struts in the front but I have changed the shocks in the back... Well my rims in the front I bent both sides of each rim hitting potholes... But somehow the rims in the back are always fine, I'm assuming because I changed the shocks & the shocks absorb the impact... So by changing the struts in the front would it help reduce the chances of bending my rims by hitting a potholes?