The 3 Best Tyres for the Peugeot 208

This article contains affiliate links. For more information about this, click here.

Tyres are a crucial component of your Peugeot 208 - they are the only thing that separates you from the road. It seems in the UK we cheap out a little bit on tyres sometimes - much more so than they do in other parts of the world. Everyone is looking to save money, and there are some aspects of car maintenance and repair that you can save money on, but I don’t think tyres is one of them. 

There are so many different brands of tyre out there and all of them pay people to come up with marketing material and jargon to convince you that their tyres are the best. I’ve always been a big believer of fitting the best possible tyres to your vehicle, and if you have a Peugeot 208 and are looking for the best tyres to fit, this article is for you.

All of the recommendations in this article are premium tyres because that’s what I believe in - you can fit cheaper tyres to save money but you will be glad of the expense of premium tyres when you’re in treacherous conditions.

Quick Answer - Our Picks for the Best Peugeot 208 Tyres

My own personal experience with these tyres

I ran a Peugeot 208 for three years - it was a 2015 1.6 diesel. I did a fair few miles in the car and as such went through several sets of tyres. When I first bought it, it was fitted with some pretty basic Prestivo tyres - which weren’t particularly good, but certainly weren’t the worst tyres I’ve ever had on a car.

When it came time to replace these tyres I put a set of Pirelli P1 Cinturatos on it and from then until I sold the car it only ever had premium tyres on it. I also ran a set of Michelin Primary 4 tyres on the car just before I sold it. I’m a big believer in proper tyres - I think budget tyres are a false economy and mid-range tyres are generally priced so close to premium tyres that you might as well spend the extra £10 - £20 per tyre.

Additionally I am a mechanic and have been for over ten years - and since the Peugeot 208 is such a common car, I saw a countless number of 208s as part of my work as both a dealer technician, a mobile mechanic and now working for an independent garage - and part of working in a garage is that quite often you fit tyres. I have fitted all of the recommended tyres to a Peugeot 208 at some point. 

What’s more, I looked after a few 208s on a regular basis for repeat customers and clients. Therefore I know which of these tyres wore faster than others through chatting with customers who complained that a so-called “premium” brand didn’t last as long as cheaper brands - so I’m pretty clued up on which tyres last and which don’t based on the type of driving my customers did.

What size tyres are your Peugeot 208 fitted with?

The Peugeot 208 came with a number of different rim sizes depending on the trim. I’m not a Peugeot expert, but I can tell you that in my experience, most Active and Access trim models were fitted with 15 and 16 inch rims (185/65/R15 and 195/55/R16), the Allure with 16 inch rims (195/55/R16 - this was the one I had) and the GTi with 16, 17 or 18 inch rims (205/50/R16, 205/45/R17 or 205/40/R18 respectively).

Probably the most common size I saw on the Peugeot 208 was the 16 inch 195/55/R16. If your car is slightly different, these recommendations still apply. Just make sure that before ordering your tyres, you check the size first - don’t rely on the online tool that the retailer provides you with to check your tyre size. My Peugeot 208 always gave me problems in this regard as most tyre sites thought it had 15 inch rims when it actually had 16 inch rims - so make sure you check what’s on your car now, and buy the same size when they need replacing.

How we measure the “best” tyre

I’m primarily using my own experience to rank this list. The top two tyres here I ran myself on my own Peugeot 208, and that’s because out of all the tyres I’ve fitted to 208s over the years, these were the ones where my customers seemed happiest.

However, I’ve also done a bit of research in terms of what the industry thinks of these tyres, and how well they suit a small car like the Peugeot 208. There aren’t many people doing thousands and thousands of motorway miles in a Peugeot 208 - it’s a city car, and it’s mainly used for city driving. These tyres have been selected with this in mind, but be aware that none of these tyres are bad tyres, and all will be suitable if you are doing mega motorway miles - it’s just that in my opinion, they (like the car itself) are better suited for use around town.

Bear in mind that in our selections, we’ve linked to one of the most common Peugeot 208 tyre sizes - the 195/55/R16 H. You might find that you have slightly smaller or larger rims than this - and if you do you should make sure that you buy the correct tyre for your vehicle. 

The 3 Best Tyres for the Peugeot 208 (chosen by an expert mechanic)

As I mentioned, I briefly ran these tyres on my Peugeot 208 before I sold it. For most of the time I owned my 208 I ran Pirelli P1 Cinturato Verdes, which I’ve put in second place. The Michelin was better - not by much, but it was better. Additionally whenever I had a 208 in the garage that had these on, it was rare that we would have one back complaining of high wear or poor grip.

While the difference between the Michelins and the Pirellis is not huge, it was noticeable. I felt that grip in the wet and the dry was excellent - at all times when using these tyres I had absolute confidence in the car, even in very poor conditions. This is backed up by some of the reviews online, which mention excellent braking distances, good rolling resistance and good aquaplaning qualities. These tyres were a little sportier than the Pirellis, and provided a good driving experience.

I would also say (although I didn’t own the car for very long after fitting Michelin Primary 4+ tyres to it) that wear was good on these tyres. I did for a brief period use my 208 instead of my van when it was off the road when I used to be a mobile mechanic, and of course being mobile meant lots of driving. They were excellent on the motorway, wore evenly and can’t say I noticed any excessive wear. There are reports of these running up to 45,000 miles which is incredible for a set of tyres - and I honestly can say I did not notice any reduction in performance when these tyres were slightly worn versus when they were new.

I can’t speak for ice and snow with these tyres as I don’t recall having icy or snowy conditions when I ran these tyres - I sold my 208 in September while the Michelins were fitted the previous March, so I mainly ran these tyres in the dry with the odd rainy day. Reports online suggest these tyres perform averagely on snow and ice, but they aren’t winter tyres or all-season tyres and you shouldn’t expect too much in this regard.

Cabin noise was good with these tyres - again, the 208 is not a particularly quiet car at speed, but I can’t say I was disappointed. They were slightly noisier than I would expect, but definitely on the quieter side, and certainly compared to some of the other tyres in this list. If you’re after the quietest set of tyres you can possibly buy, however, these might not be for you.

My only real complaint about Primacy 4+ tyres is that they are noticeably more expensive than others on this list. I ran 195/55/R16s and they were at least 30% more expensive than what I paid for Pirelli tyres. Of course, you are getting a better tyre, but all of the other tyres in this list are around the same price point and these are certainly quite a bit more expensive. Something you may want to think about, as I honestly think most road users are unlikely to notice the difference between these and the Pirellis in second place - they’re both excellent tyres.

I ran these tyres on my Peugeot 208 for several years so I’m pretty confident when I recommend these as the second best tyre for the Peugeot 208. They aren’t cheap, but they’re cheaper than the Michelins and they do almost as good a job in my opinion.

There was a very noticeable difference when I took my old Prestivos off and replaced them with these Pirelli P1s - and the main difference was that of the ride; these are very comfortable tyres. They absorb the bumps and undulations in the road very easily. The Peugeot 208 is a well-riding comfortable car anyway, but these tyres definitely go some way to improving on the ride, and if you are looking for more of a comfortable rather than a sporty feel, these are a good set of tyres to go for.

Another thing to note is that they’re excellent in the rain - when they were new, I remember driving to Scotland from my then girlfriend’s house in Bristol for a few days away, and we had a horrendous downpour on the way there. I can honestly say I hardly noticed the car’s performance had changed - the tyres were grippy and inspired a lot of confidence at 70mph. Granted, I wasn’t throwing the car into corners, but as long as you aren’t doing track work, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how well these grip and perform in wet weather. 

I never drove my 208 in the snow when it was fitted with Pirelli P1 Cinturato tyres, but did drive it in icy conditions a few times and while occasionally I would struggle to get traction and the wheels would spin, generally the car performed well - certainly well enough that I was confident to drive as I normally would without being worried I would lose the back end or not be able to stop (I know that feeling when test driving a customer’s car who insisted on having Chinese ditchfinders fitted - and it’s not fun).

One thing I would comment on is that the P1s seem to wear very quickly. On average I was replacing my tyres every 20,000 miles - which I think is pretty poor. If I was doing mainly motorway miles I might understand it but that’s not how I was using my car. Something to think about - and it’s maybe because these tyres are soft and comfortable that they wear quicker.

Additionally these tyres aren’t noisy, but there’s definitely more tyre noise than the Michelins, and if this is something you’re thinking about (particularly again if you do motorway mileage, as the 208 cabin isn’t especially quiet at high speed) I would recommend you go for Michelin instead. Another thing to note is that they seemed to want topping up with air quite often, especially in the cold weather; and this gets annoying after a while (particularly if you’re up early and you need to disturb your neighbours by getting the compressor out.)

All in all, an excellent tyre, with a few minor drawbacks.

I’ve always been a big fan of Dunlop tyres, and I particularly like the Sport BluResponse tyre. Although I never ran this tyre on my own 208, this is the tyre that I would recommend for anyone looking for a premium tyre but where budget is a consideration. There is one drawback which I’ll go into later on, but fundamentally this is a solid tyre and one you should consider if the Michelin and the Pirelli are too expensive.

One of the great things about these tyres is how they perform in the dry - as long as you aren’t aggressive. I’ve heard reports of people who drive sportier cars (and probably drive them harder than they should) that they’re a little bit twitchy and because the sidewalls are soft (they are a comfortable tyre) handling isn’t great. For normal everyday driving, however, they will be absolutely fine.

Mentioning the sidewalls, I have seen at least two of these come in for replacement on various cars with bulges in the sidewalls, and it’s always been that the customer has had a low speed impact with a kerb. Now of course, I don’t know whether the customer was telling the truth about how “low speed” it was, but for two cars to come in with this complaint with these tyres, suggests that there are issues with the integrity of the sidewalls compared to other premium tyres and they will possibly bulge on you more easily.

That being said, they are very grippy tyres, aquaplane well and perform excellently in the dry and the wet as long as they are not worn out. I’ve heard reports that these don’t perform especially well in the ice and snow, but again these are not an all-season or winter tyre so you shouldn’t expect fantastic winter weather performance from them.

I do remember one situation where we had a Peugeot 208 diesel in for a gearbox replacement that was fitted with these tyres. They were almost bald - they can’t have had more than 2mm of tread left on the front. Anyway, I remember taking this car out for a test drive after the box had been fitted to check that everything worked, and it was pouring with rain that day. I remember distinctly the feeling of the car trying to grip the road but because the tyres were worn, there wasn’t any - and when I came onto a roundabout (on reflection, probably a bit faster than I should have been going) I nearly lost the back end. Thankfully no harm was done - but from experience, these tyres don’t perform well in the wet when they are nearly worn out, and you’d be advised to replace them when they’re at minimum 3mm of tread. 

There are definitely other dependable, excellent tyres on the market for the Peugeot 208, such as the Bridgestone Turanza T005 or the Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 2 - these are just my picks based on experience. What's your experience of tyres for the Peugeot 208? Let me know down in the comments section below.

We've written loads of articles on the Peugeot 208, so if you're looking for more information or if you have problems, check out some of our articles below.