[Rubbond]

I'm afraid yourex-Honda friend has no idea about the prices. There is no
way anyone could supply a wheel and tyre unit at GBP 4.50.
Maybe he got the decimal point wrong? Pop along to your local Quick Fit,
divide their price by at most 2, and thats about what Honda will be paying.
And that's just the tyre.
OEM suppliers earn nothing on tyres, even a loss, and also earn very little
in the replacement market to compensate.
As to the alloy wheel, Aluminium alloy is currently at rock bottom prices of
about GBP 725/MT, (pure Aluminium is more expensive) so at say 10 kg that's
GBP 7.25 just for the metal itself. Two years ago the price was double that,
and you would need to add at least GBP 15 to get to the finished cost price
for the wheel. So I guess he did get the decimal point wrong.
Most people don't realise by the way that so-called light alloy wheels are
hardly any lighter than pressed steel.
I have Land Rovers, and their alloys might be a bit over-engineered for
off-road use, but they are extremely heavy when you have to change one!
You can check out metal prices at the London Metal Exchange on www.lme.com.
Have fun,
Andrew.