If the shocks (dampers) are shot, they usually leak. With enough miles or hard use they can lose damping ability, but gradually.
It sounds like (as KW said) a sphere or spheres are failing. In the early states this lets nitrogen into the fluid, and the dampers are unable to damp the motion properly as they are designed for hydraulic oil, not gas and bubbles.
As they get worse, you will lose a little fluid into the spheres (not external leaks), but what you will notice more is that the car rides like a truck in the rear, because the dampers will become hydrolocked (nowhere for the fluid to go on jounce/compression).
A little bit of a tedious replacement job, probably is a DIY sticky, and about $80/side for the spheres IIRC but definately a DIY. Be sure to get the 4 crush-washers for the sphere to banjo-bolt connection and a liter of fluid when you order spheres (accumulators).
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Gone to the dark side
- Jeff
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