I don't know the actual relative of cost of steel wire and Kevlar fiber. But don't forget there are three common pricing approaches: cost plus pricing, value pricing and commodity pricing. In cost plus pricing you add up all the costs of making and selling a product and add a standard profit margin to obtain the price. In value pricing, you go above the cost of making the goods and charge as much as you think the product is worth to the public, not just an industry standard markup. In commodity pricing supply and demand dictate the price no matter what it costs to make. If you will permit me to wonder about this along with you, better folding tires could be priced according to the value model even though they don't cost much more to make than the wire bead type. For the maker that is where the decent profits would be. Lower end wire bead and folding tires could be priced according to the cost plus model. That would explain the differences, but it is all supposition. Perhaps we can call on BDop for some facts.