if i understand you, all of this is in the sub report.
You are suppressing detail based on a criteria.
if this criteria is basedo only on data int hat row, create a formula to give a value for 1 if not suppressed and 0 if suppressed
sum that at teh report level
if it is 0 all rows are suppresses so you can suppress the header and footer sections based on that
sum(formula)=0
this in turn makes the sub report "blank"
which allows you to supress the sub report in the main report on that condition