Tires and wheel fitment seems to be one of the most talked about topics on the forums, so I took some photos along the way. As of right now, the car is on OE suspension and alignment, which is quite nice on the street.
225 Continental, OE wheel
Here's what my front 225 Continental DW looks like now, after I bought the car off lease last fall. The dealer had to install fresh front tires and align it. I tried to convince him to leave the worn tires on and just give me the new ones - nope. I tried to convince him to put on DWS (so I could drive it in light snow) - nope.
225 Continental / 265 Star Spec
Here's what my front 225 Continental DW looks like next to the 265/35 18 Dunlop Z4 Star Specs. Notice that not only is the latter wider, it is also shorter (see tire specs at TireRack).
225 Continental, OE wheel - 48.2lb
My front 225 Continental DW on OE wheels with only maybe 3,000 or so miles of wear weighs 48.2lb on my bathroom scale.
255 Continental, OE wheel - 53.2lb
My rear 255 Continental DW on OE wheels with noticeable wear weighs 53.2lbs.
265 Star Spec, Apex ARC-8 - 46.4lb
The new 265 Star Specs with Apex ARC-8 18x9.5 ET35 weighs in at 46.4lb. I am currently running a square set up, for a total savings of 17.2lbs, mostly from the rear.
Front strut rub, so use 5mm spacer
The initial fitment was as-is with OE bolts. The fronts could manage only 2.5 turns of engagement which is not enough. When driven gingerly down the block, I could hear noise from the front. This turns out to be the Star Spec's rim protector brushing aginst the front strut which you can see in the center of this picture as light horizontal wear. I had longer bolts, but they were too long. This is cured by installing Vorshlag 75mm wheel studs and using 5mm H&R spacers I had lying around. I am guessing 3mm spacers would work as well, but I had 5mm on hand.
Rear liner rub, ignore
The rear inner plastic liner which doesn't quite fit flat against metal gets some rubbing (center of picture), but nothing to worry about.
Front with 5mm spacer, OE struts and alignment
Here's what the right front looks like, with OE struts and alignment. They peek out past the plane of fender a bit. Once the ASTs come in, they should visually "fit" nicely with negative camber and a slight drop in ride height.
This set up has been driven on the street and at an autocross last weekend with no issues. Another test and tune coming up this Sunday - too bad I don't have my suspension yet, which in a way is good since this was only my second autocross outing in the car so I get to feel the car out some more. So far I love the torque and the 265s up front definitely help dial out understeer (the first autocross I drove on those skinny full depth Contis). Traction off and Sport on is lots of fun on an autocross course.
Clean runs all!