Guys, my '03 a4 1.8T seems to be bouncing a lot recently. Everytime I run over a manhole cover, the car bounces up and down pretty rapidly. I feel the vibration on the steering wheel too? I live in MA and I know that the roads are terrible here. But I would be surprised if so much can be blamed on roads alone.

a. could it be a weak suspension? weak shocks?
b. or is it my body/engine mounts? (I feel this particularly when accelerating)
c. or is it alignment problem? I recently got new tires, balanced and aligned. So the tire issue could pretty well be ruled out.

 

Sounds like shocks to me. When shocks wear out, they don't absorb anything.So you're just left with springs. Those are bouncy.

 

while parked try to push car down as hard as u can and see if it will bounce up and down, if yes – start looking for new shocks..
try local tire shops some of them do free inspection