Anything I need to know about "high end wheels" with flats?

Yeah... try to avoid them.

seriously though, carbon or aluminum braking surface/rim?

good question....excuse my ignorance on wheels...they would most likely be Zipp 404 or 808 clinchers  if that helps...i guess I better school myself on them

If they are clinchers, I think you are good to go, no major differences in flat repair.

However, for braking, if the race rims are all-carbon, you will find that the braking will be much, much worse without carbon-specific brake pads on your brakes.

this is why I asked the question ...Thanks...also probably what leegocrap was eluding too

If you rent all carbon rims, I would very seriously consider getting 4 good carbon specific brake pads.

Or, you could save a lot of hassle and try to rent some zipps with the alloy braking surfaces, those work great with conventional pads, even in wet weather.

Also if you get a Zipp 900 clincher disc, you'll want a tube with a short 32mm valve stem and a very small CO2 inflator -- ex: http://www.genuineinnovations.com/microflate-nano.html

Unlikely you will rent carbon rims unless they are tubular and avoid those at any cost.

How I change my Zipp 404s and standard training wheels is different. I need to use different tire levers to have process go smoothly.

Normally I can use one or two Park tire levers on every day wheels. On Zipps once I use it I need to hold them or tires pop back on rims. I found Pedro tire levers work perfectly and saved me lots of time as they stay put once I leverage them.

What I found worked best was use two Pedro tire levers about 6-8" apart get them both under edge of tire and I could let them go and the levers lay next to tire. I tried to use one of the Pedro tire levers to pull the rest of the edge of the tire off but it was very tough for me. Instead I take 1 Park tool tire lever put it between the two Pedros and use the Park lever to pull the rim off. The leveraging part of the Park tool is smaller and it feels more comfortable in my hands.

I flatted quarter mile in to IM aquabike and it took way to long to change the tube with the Park levers. After that race, I posted here and got some tips and was able to find the easier way which probably took 1/3 of the time. I practiced once I figured out what worked for me about 10 times and felt more confident that I would be faster if I got a flat in my next race.

How it works for you may be different.

I'm renting Zipp 808 FireCrest wheels for my HIM in June.  There is a local shop that rents them and supplies everything except the tires and cassette for the rental.  I'll pick up 2 extra tubes, which they say are fully refundable if they aren't used during the race.  Do I expect them to make me that much faster, no, but I figure they will give me some added motivation to ride harder.

If anyone rents Carbon Clinchers or Tubulars from the shop I work at, they ARE buying brand new carbon specific brake pads.  On rental wheels shops would be dumb not to make people do that...too much of a chance of damage to the wheels otherwise.

Or as a shop you could include those pads in the cost of rental as most people renting them are doing so for a weekend.  Figure an average shop rents race wheels for between $100 and $150 for a 4 day period.  Why should a person renting wheels be required to buy two sets of pads for $80 when they are only going to be used for 3-4 days?  Seems like the type of shop that is only interested in making a quick buck.

You'll have to find out if they're the new full carbon clinchers (Firecrest only, I believe) or the older alu rim models.

Carbon clinchers require some extra caution when removing/installing tires - any carelessness may be met with a gouge at best, and a delamination or crack at worst.

The alu-carbon versions are, from a tire mounting standpoint, as rugged as regular aluminum clinchers.

SYJ