100K on 2002 GT Maintenance Q's

I am getting a squeking noise coming fro mthe right rear of the car when turning right sharply or over a bumpy road. I am thinking it is either the upper control arm bushing or possibly a squeaky shock?

Can I figure out which one is the culprit without tearing the rear suspension down?

The car has 105,000 miles on it so I am gearing up for maintenance such as shocks, long tubes, and a dyno tune. This is a car I drive everyday so with that said:

I am leaning towards Bilstein shocks based on word of mouth, is this a good direction to go in? I don;t race or anything, I just want a car that runs great on the road and doesn;t beat me to death. I know it's not a Cadillac, but some civility would be nice. I have been hearing good things about the Tokico D-Specs though...?

I keep reading that you shouldn;t go to polyuerethane bushings for non-racing applications...is this true? I was thinking of these:
http://www.stangsuspension.com/store...idproduct=1054
But didn't to waste money on them if it was safe to go to poly-u bushings.

3.73 gears or 4.10's? I drive 20 minutes to work everyday, mostly inerstate. Is the performance gain worth the hit on gas mileage?

I have s et of long tubes and catted x pipe to go on. I have Pypes Violator Catback on now. Once the tubes are on I assume I would need a tune correct?

I want to keep the car responsible and civil since I drive for work a lot and my girlfriend drives it occasionally, but I do want to step the Stang up in the badass department. Thanks for the help in advance.

IIGood said:

I've got the D-Specs on my '03 and they're great. I have them paired with the Ford C-Springs. I really like the ability to adjust how firm you can make them, though I haven't used that much. Took some tweaking initially to feel out how I liked each setting, and have pretty much stayed that way since. Have messed with the settings a few times for different purposes (track, etc) but for daily road use, I'd set them back to the main setting.

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I am running the C springs too. I put them on about a year ago. What I will probably do is get some rear upper control arms and shocks/struts all the way around. When you firmed the d specs up how did the car respond?

02nightmaregt said:

Everyone pretty much covered the squeek problem pretty well. For the shocks/struts, you are correct, the Bilsteins are One of if not the best. The d-specs i haven't heared too much on but what i have heared was good. Gear wise you're gonna find a huge debate. I love my 3.73's because there are a lot of highways where i live and thats mainly what i drive to and from work. 4.10's gas mileage would probably only be down 2-3 maybe 5 mpg's at most depending on driving style. The tune is not NEEDED but wouldn't hurt

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I think I am leaning towards the d specs for the adjustability. There are some good roads to get out and run on in the country around my place so I wouldn't mind to be able to switch up and play on the weekends.

I think I will do 3.73's. I drive mostly on the interstate for work, about 20 minutes one way. But a few times a week I drive to othr regions and may be rolling for 4-6 hours over the course of the day. 2-5 mpg makes a difference. Plus, the better on mileage, the more $$$ in my pocket after reimbursement.