Right now, not knowing how 2 wheels got bent, I'd not bet even with your money!!! lol Will be interesting to hear how this turns out, so keep us posted on the findings.

 

Wheel has been bent for years, sorry I didn't mention that. Got back from shop we put it up on the lift. The pass. axle shaft was real hot to the touch. It looks like a bad axle bearing. Maybe even a bad axle it has some play up and down. Also, I have a bad upper engine mount. You can't see it until you step on the gas.

 

I just replaced the upper & lower passenger side torque struts on the Wife's 2000 Neon. About 135K miles on this puppy & it turned 20 this past May. The rubber looked ok but if you pushed on them from the side, you could see that the rubber bond to the potted in metal through bolt fitting was completely de-bonded from the metal insert. Replacing both upper & lower torque struts also fixed the intermittent harsh 1-2 upshift. Seeing as how both those struts were installed at the same time at the factory, your lower one belongs on the suspect list too.

If you buy them from Advance Auto, inspect closely any made in India, as my upper torque strut made there was all messed up & the large dia end potted in through bolt fitting was Nylon, not steel, so its going back as it won't torque up to & remain at the 87 ft/lb torque spec.

The bottom torque strut made in China looked just like the OEM, was properly cleaned up of potting material, all metal through bolt fittings as they should be & fit like OEM, a quality part, unlike the India part that looked like it was a dirty grimy salvage piece & the large dia end potted in through bolt fitting was Nylon instead of steel & potted off angle, such that it wouldn't properly align for bolt up, so I had to mod the Nylon part with a Dremel & sanding drum, so it would align & bolt up. But that Nylon cold flows & won't hold tightening torque, so its going back for a proper made part. At least its the upper strut & easy to get at & replace.