help setting solid valve lash

Hey all
I have heard so many stories about setting valve lash so I thought I would see who on here has had success with solid cams.
My cam card says intake .016 and exhaust .018 Is this hot or cold lash?

I was told on speedtalk forum to take .005 to .006 off that to save my valve train. I want to get this right before I spend money on tuning. It seems to be a little rough only at idle and the timing mark is jumping around a little. Could this be caused by wrong lash?

I set it at .010 and .012 cold as I have ally heads. The recommended .016 and .018 is a massive gap and I would imagine would be noisy as hell.
If this is the recommended hot lash then maybe I could set one cylinder while hot and then check it cold and copy it to the rest.
Cheers
Author: maca