First off, the car at hand is a black '01 Avant. The car sits stupidhigh right now, and it displeases me.

I want to bring it down a bit,especiallyinthe back, but I hate cars like the Hondas in town that scrape, however, if I'm dropping money into lowering it, I want it to be noticable.
I like the stock 17s and the brand new tires that encase them, so those'll stay.

How low is too low? And are there any manufacturers to stay away from?
Will I be alright with stock shocks?

I have a $400 max I can put on parts right now, so if springs only isn't a good choice, I'll put the money into other things, but I want to lower the car badly.

 

you forgot tein, wich is what i have so i vote for tein s-tech

 

H&R ftw!

 

Nope, your stock shocks will not last with the lowering springs.

Save a little more, and chip the car. Then, save up instead of springs get these: https://www.audiforums.com/m_583576/tm.htm

 

do what acetrebo said or buy springs and save for upgraded shocks

 

Will the shocks not last long because they will be bottoming out or something?

Yeah, I've been debating on saving another 100 for a chip, getting coils and keeping some cash, or upgrading my stereo, but that'll be something I'll have to decide on my own.
Sounds like coils only might be a bad idea though.

Does Tein have a non-crappy site?

 

If you do coils, you need sport shocks as well. So, you'l be close to the 800 for coilovers which are a little better and much more adjustable.

 

The onlycoilovers under the $950 Konis that I could find were these $700 Teins:
http://www.modacar.com/products/Audi...ver+Syste.html

Are they any good?