Shocking Behavior! (A question about shocks)

I had to replace a leaf spring recently, so I thought it would be a good time to replace my shocks, as they likely had 260,000km on them.

All of the new shocks (admittedly the cheap monroe ones) were quite easy to depress, and took forever to re-extend.

All of the original shocks were quite hard to depress, but re-extended in a matter of seconds.

So, why the difference? Are the old ones showing signs of 'bad' shocks? Or are these just different behaviors...and how would they relate to the overall handling?

Thanks!

Your original shocks may have been made by Bilstein, great quality shocks! According to your testing method, they were still functioning properly. The Monroes you installed will ride mushier than your originals did. Don't get me wrong, Monroe makes good quality shocks, but the higher end models cost substantially more.

The easier the shock compresses, and the slower it extends, the softer and mushier the ride will be. The harder they compress, and the faster they extend, the stiffer the ride. A stiff ride will give better handling and control.