Tires: Cupping on Subaru, alignment condition, cupping

Question
My 1998 Subaru is seriously cupping my Uniroyal Long Touring tires with only 20K miles on the tread.  I'm taking the car in next week to have the struts and alignment checked and corrected (whatever needs to be done). The question is:  Can you get rid of the cupping on the existing tires without taking them somewhere and having them shaved.  I was told that by putting the tires on the otherside of the car the cups might decrease but the mechanic wasn't sure.

Answer
Jennifer,

As you have surmised, correcting the alignment condition is only part of the solution when tires wear irregularly.

When the alignment is corrected, it is possible to rotate the tires and a new wear pattern will develop.  However, this will take a long time and while that is happening you have to put up with the noise and vibrations until the new wear pattern erases the old one.