This was my thought process when I bought mine. The rears stay super cool now. They took longer to bed in than the front, lol. I debated leaving the dust shields on and after leaving them on I don't think I needed to remove them with how cool they run.
Start with painters tape fo sho. I still use painters tape when I decide to run Time Trials. I wash the car before the event and clean the magnet before applying. I stick the magnets together when not in use. Mine were $25 done at the track.
From my personal experience, ran a 255 RC-1 on a 17x9 on my 96 Cobra with stock weight/power and the next session ran a 275 on a 17x9 as well. 255 has slight stretch and the 275 had slight bulge. I went 1.3 seconds faster on a 1.06 second track with the 255 vs the 275. Same day, 1 hour apart...
I have everything mentioned expect Ultralites instead of Sports and I do have the rear shock mounts. I have the struts one and a half turns out from full soft and the shocks one turn from full soft. Rides like stock except no bouncing (may be a 15-17 thing only, have not driven a 18+). I also...
In regards to the track day comment and dive bombing, there was a mention about restricting visibility. While head and neck restraints do limit turning your head movement, you get used to how much you can now move and set up mirrors accordingly. Normally in HPDE style track days, you are not...