Tire Cupping

Hi all,
Need some advice on what to try first. I have one tire which is cupping on the outside 1/4 tread area. It is on the front passanger side. All the other tires are wearing evenly. There is no pulling or noticable vibration and the struts respond with no bouncing.
Does this sound like a ballance problem or alignment?
Down at my local dealer, (Dodge) a hunter alignment will run me 49.00 and a road force balance is 15.00 per tire. Am I going in the right direction here? Not sure about the alignment if all the others are even wear.

It could be a tire balancing problem but cupping is usually caused by bad shocks or it could be faulty wheel bearings. If you're not noticing any vibrations it's probably not balancing. A good tire store should be able to tell you though - they usually know more about tires than car dealers.

Plus $!5.00 per tire is too much for a balance. One of my local Tires PLus shops has a Hunter rfb machine and they charge under $30 for all 4 wheels. I actually think it was like $24, since Tires Plus had a $5 coupon you can print off the internet.

Plus $!5.00 per tire is too much for a balance. One of my local Tires PLus shops has a Hunter rfb machine and they charge under $30 for all 4 wheels. I actually think it was like $24, since Tires Plus had a $5 coupon you can print off the internet.

You just paid $4.80. Does 20 cents make that much of a difference?

Careful on your fire, the first post is $15 which dsatt typed $!5.00

Careful on your fire, the first post is $15 which dsatt typed $!5.00

Sorry, misread it then. I wondered what the exclamation point was in there for. Figured his finger must have slipped or something. Sorry for the mistake.

I apologize dsatt.