I was wondering. Is it a good idea to lower a car with stock shocks?

I drive a 1997 C36 AMG and wanted to lower the car with a spring set. Do I need new shocks or the stock AMG/Bilstein ones good enough?

You can try lowering the car without changing the shocks without any problem.
I have lowered my former 190 with springs only and have driven 200.000km like that. I have lowered my current C class with springs only for 150.000km, but have later changed the shocks as well.

If the handling of the car will not improve enough after you lowered the car, you can always do the shocks separately.

greetingz,