Shocks or body vibration?

When I go over bumpy roads I get car noise. Seems worse than 6 mos ago. Maybe I’m imagining it. The noises are diffuse and somewhat varied, not limited to a single area. And varies in intensity with the bumps.

Anyway, I tried testing for bad shocks by pushing down the front and back of my 2004 Honda Pilot and watching the return. But I didn’t observe much. I couldn’t get much vertical distance on the push down, to begin with.

How can I be sure about the source of sounds? $400-$500 is a big mistake when shocks aren’t the problem.

Incidentally, there’s no instability while driving…no up and down bouncing, no lateral movement, no problem when braking or starting.

Pushing up & down only tests for extreme degradation of the struts. It isn’t a great test.
Soooooo why haven’t you brought it to a reputable chassis shop for a look-see? They’ll be able to see a lot more with the car on a lift than I can see from here.

I don’t think it’s shocks.
Get a suspension specialist or at least a good mechanic at an independent shop to test drivve and look at the ball joints and tie rod ends.
I’ll be one of those is worn/dry/loose.

How do ball joints and tie rod ends compare in price to shocks? Sounds like the right solution.

Does it sound like the van is loaded with lumber… but it isn’t? Loose-lumber noise usually is telling you the rubber mounts for the shocks or struts are starting to fail. Cheaper than replacing shocks or struts but pretty much the same labor cost.

Badly-worn ball joints and tie rod ends are a significant safety hazard, and if they are the source of the problem, you would be well advised to replace them no matter what the cost might be.

Another possibility is broken stabelizer links if so equipped.

Look, all we’re going to be doing here is guessing. There are countless possibilities. It really needs to be looked at.

In the old days it was pretty easy to do a bounce test but it can be near impossible to tell now with shocks and struts.
The exception would be when the units are flat gone and consist of nothing more than an empty case and a spring. At that point they may produce that ping-pong ball effect.