Yes if your old osx had any bad info it could cause slower ssd operations. Best way to see is time your original hdd then boot and run two or three times and run a few programs. clock speed. then do a fresh install onto an exact make and model hdd. then compare it to the original. if all times are tied you had a good original drive without corruption. In this case cloning is okay. Many times fresh installs are far faster then clones due to file corruption that you just copied from drive to drive.
as far as wear leveling mac osx does not have any that I know of as of july 2009. I have used
intel x-80m
intel x-25e fastest drive but too small.
ocz summit 120gb ssd also a nice drive.