Brakes & Shocks ??
Monroe's were not OE. Go back to the correct Bilstein shock if you want to improve the control, but not make it a bone crusher. Both are very straight forward to change. Get yourself a factory manual if you don't already have one.
Being that you car never gets warmed up on your daily commute, I would only run a stock OE pad. Some of the guys get Mustang Cobra front pads, as they are around $65 for the fronts vs. some ridiculous price from GM. (although check out member "Carfan" aka Jeff Kopp for great prices on OE GM parts)
DO purge ALL of the old brake fluid. There's a couple of different ways you can go with the bleeding systems. Reverse bleeders like Phoenix or one that's very good if you have shop air is sold by Griot's Garage and SnapOn. Same unit. Try either ATE Super Blue, PFC "Z" fluid, or the Ford High Perf brake fluids. All are very good and reasonable.










