I'm noticing that the steering wheel shimmy comes and goes... there doesn't seem to be any one speed it shows up at, or any thing I can do to make it come on or go away. Anywhere from 60km/h up to 120km/h the steering wheel can start shimmying... then a few minutes later, it's perfectly fine. There is also kind of a slight roughness/vibration that is always there, but I think that may be due to the rough tread of the winter tires, since that felt better on the summer tires.
In a previous car, (1998 Plymouth Neon), I had steering wheel shimmy that would show up above 80km/h... The tires were balanced several times, normally, road-force balanced, balanced on the car, high speed balanced... etc. In the end, I found a forum post of someone else having that issue.. there was a harmonic kind of vibration that was happening above 80km/h due to that rear most lower control arm bushing being completely worn... and my problem was finally solved when I insisted the mechanic change that bushing.
So, I'm thinking with my Protege 5, there could be a few things causing my .. come and go steering wheel shimmy...
-The tires are not perfectly balanced, and sometimes get in a position in relation to each other that exaggerates the issue... (mmmm?)
-I'm getting a kind of harmonic vibration sometimes due to my known incorrect positioning of the lower control arm bushing... (hope not, but I'm thinking this could be it... )
-My tie rod ends are worn... they felt solid to me while tugging on them, but they are old... and probably the only thing I didn't already replace in the front end besides the end links.
-Alignment? (kind of doubt this... I'm thinking alignment would really just affect tire wear, and not contribute to the steering wheel shimmying.. anyone have an opinion?)
I think I'll try the summer tires again on a decent day...If the shimmy still happens, I'll be reasonable sure it's not due to tires... and continue my game of parts darts. (lol)
I'll probably replace the inner and outer tie rod ends and get an alignment before giving in and buying new control arms.