I’ve just bought a 1999 Honda Civic that feels bouncy, especially at high speeds. Specifically, if I’m at freeway speeds and encounter bumps while curving to the right, it can feel quite unstable. Much less so when curving to the left. On city streets, it just feels bouncier than normal. When I do the push-down test on the shocks, they feel stiff, with virtually no bounce. Any suggestions on a starting point?
It’s 11 years young. It’d entirely normal for the struts to be shot. A good look-see of the undercarriage on a lift might even disclose a broken sway bar link, who knows.
It sounds like worn struts and perhaps some worn steering and suspension parts, tie rods ball joints stuff like that.
I’d suggest a good alignment shop. Before doing an alignment they will check the front end for issues because the car won’t hold alignment with worn parts. If you are handy you could replace the struts yourself then take it for alignment.
Thanks for the replies. I’m a pretty good backyard mechanic, just never gotten too much into suspension work and didn’t want to bark up the wrong tree. The struts seemed obvious, but I just retired an older, roughly driven Civic Hatchback with original struts, and it just got more ‘dead’ feeling, not bouncier. Of course, I suspect power steering on the new car makes the wheel more responsive to me also…and larger rims/smaller tire profile too…
Thanks again