Sudden wobbly wheel

[strunch]

I have a 99 astro van AWD with 166k miles. Yesterday, as I turned onto a highway and accelerated I noticed the steering wheel started to wobble quite a bit. I pulled over and didn't see anything obvious. I called an alignment shop to make an appointment and the guy said it sounded like the wheels were not balanced. I had an unbalanced wheel last year that behaved similar so I was hoping that was the problem. I drive it about 9 hours a day for work. Today I tried to stick to back roads because it seems at about 45 mph it would start shaking pretty bad. It seems to be coming from the front passenger side wheel. Tonight I replaced the wheel with my spare hoping it would make a difference but it still behaved the same. There was a big thunderstorm when this problem popped up and I drove through a few big puddles...also I think I may have bumped into a few curbs the last few months when parking on streets. Also, today I noticed a squeaking sound that wasn't there before. I depend on my van for my income and any ideas are greatly appreciated. Should I go ahead with the alignment or could it be something else?

p.s. I should mention that the wheel wobbles at all speeds...it is just worse around 40 -50 mph.

[strunch]

I tried to drive to work today but it was shaking too much. I drove home. My boss suggested in may be a ball joint. Is there a way to test that? I would like to fix it myself.

[strunch]

The problem was a separated tire.

[strunch]

and worn idler arms.