Hello, lone_emu:
At first, to use your static methods, you don't have to create an object of class Palindrome. So this:
Palindrome pal = new Palindrome();
is not wanted here.
To replace chars in the string (not using replace function) you can convert your string to char array, replace the elements at specified indexes and the convert it back to string
So what if you can see the darkest side of me?
No one would ever change this animal I have become
Help me believe it's not the real me
Somebody help me tame this animal