That ripped rubber is just the gaiter that protects the rubber of the airbag from whatever.
Whenever you purchase new air shocks, you have to separately specify that you also want the gaiter as it does not come included.
Re jacking to remove a wheel, I use two jacks on the rear and on the front maybe just one.
For the rear I have an old 3 ton Jet trolley jack (probably rated 6 ton now) with an adapter I made up that inserts into the hole in the frame re each wheel.
The second jack is a small bottle jack that I then set under the respective wheel A frame. There is no good location for this jack re the rear, but the front A frame as a dimple perfectly located for the piston of the hydraulic jack.
In theory, I jack on the trolley until the rubber is almost off the ground and then jack on the bottle jack to lift the rubber free. I mostly just leave the suspension level at normal as I find that jacking causes air to release or not; seems to depend on the mood of the 3, and this is with a door open or not. I usually have all the doors closed but the drivers window open and the keys out.
Re the front, if I am just changing a wheel and am on solid ground, I will just use the bottle jack to lift the A arm. It is really fast and does not actually jack the body, just compresses the air spring.