When I hit pot holes in the road, it sounds like my car(1990 Volvo 240 DL) hits them a lot harder than it should in the front. My car doesn't bounce in the front when pushed down and let up, so it passes the bounce test. I am trying to trouble shoot to see if it's just a characteristic of Volvo 240's or if something is worn out.

In my bently book under symptoms is #3 "Suspension noise, especially over bumps". What noise exactly would this be?

Symptom #2 - "Suspension bottoms out". What exactly does this mean?

 

Maybe bushings or worn mounts; how many miles are on there? Actually if springs are older and worn out, the car might not bounce.

 

it has 160,00 miles on it. i hear the bushings is a really hard job, is this true? for some reason i think the front end of my volvo looks like it sits higher than other 240's. but it may just be in my head.