Originally Posted by
Pops1959
A Park dropout alignment tool was used. Everything has been checked, really. I replaced the cable and housing, as well as the freewheel, chain, and shifters myself. Bike shop double checked my adjustments. A different bike shop tried to sell me a new bike.... lol. I did dump the bike a while back and it's been suggested that perhaps something in the derailleur itself got knocked out of whack. But being that it's about the lowest derailleur on Shimano's food chain, as well as quite cheap, I just would rather move on with my plans to upgrade it and pedal on.
It makes sense, but don't go crazy. Entry level bikes have entry level components on them for a reason. And upgrading one component, derailleurs, from entry level to a performance oriented model won't change your shifting all that much. You still have a 7 speed freewheel, rather than a freehub, and, presumably, entry level 7 speed shifters. Though you describe the change in freewheel and shifters as an upgrade, IMO they were more a personal thing (a narrower range of gears and push button shifting rather than grip shifting).
Unless you upgrade the entire drivetrain from 7 speed to 9 speed, including shifters, freehub, chain, cassette, and possibly back wheel, you won't get better shifting performance going above Altus or Acera rear derailleur. As for the front, I would leave it as is as most people don't use the front derailleur as much as the back derailleur anyway and from what I have experienced, the Tourney front derailleur isn't that bad.