What do worn out shocks/struts feel like on a sporty car?

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I've experienced cars with worn out shocks or struts. Usually this makes for a soft, floaty ride. You go over a bump and the car just keeps bouncing.

What about more sporty cars with firm suspensions? When the shocks are worn out, how would you describe the ride?
 
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About the same as you would feel with most any vehicle. Almost zero damping effect with little to no control over the spring rebound. Shock absorbers are designed to keep the tire planted to the road surface. Worn/weak shock absorbers will allow the wheel to bounce across bumps. Also upon a hard braking, if the front dives enough to bounce off the bump stops, you can loose brake efficiency because worn shocks and upset weight distribution. Sports car being a little lighter than a sedan or touring vehicle may not have as amplified symptoms, but they can still occur.
 
Dead shocks result in the wheel on that corner basically bouncing up and down without any control; the spring is doing all the work resulting in that boat-on-a-wave bounce feeling.

You may also hear knocking, especially if the strut mounts are gone as well.

Another sign is the frond end dipping extremely low when applying brakes firmly.

The best I can describe worn out suspension (mainly struts and springs) is loose, bouncy, unsettled.
 
Floaty ride, car feels like it wants to pop a wheelie under heavy acceleration and also nose dives under braking conditions.
 
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My 300 has the "performance" suspension, but it's definitely starting to get a bit soft. Just gets softer and you don't really notice it till you drive a new one.
 
I remember years ago, I put some Koni adjustable struts onto my Jetta, and i had them set to "pretty stiff". After a month I thought it was fine. Fast forward several years and way more than 100k. Local shop condemns the struts, so I had them replaced--Koni had a lifetime warranty, so I did get the struts back, so as to RMA them. They were truly dead.

But the shop installed my struts as dead soft. ! As a result I couldn't tell the difference in the ride at all. When the OEM's gave up, I could tell the floaty boat on some rough patches of road, but it was pretty infrequent.

I've come to the conclusion that I can't tell good from bad struts.
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Extremely harsh ride. The evo right now has blown struts on lowering springs and the ride is very harsh with zilch dampening.
 
"Blown" feels like riding on a bicycle rim with a flat tire.

UD
 
It depends on the car. I had an 87 Corvette that I thought rode a little rough and maybe needed new shocks. I spent a lot of money on brand new
shocks on all 4 corners and I couldn't tell the difference. I think the shocks would have to be terrible to tell the difference on a sports car that takes corners well.
 
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