This is a German company owned and operated by Hans Hoelzl. He once worked for Siemens, who makes the throttle bodies BMW uses. MINI Cooper throttle bodies are also Siemens. MTH offers a rather unique method of Engine Control Unit (ECU) tuning. Using their Car Tune software, you download the existing program in your car's ECU via the OBD port. You email Hans this file, along with a list of any engine modifications you have made, as well as the octane rating of fuel you are using. He tailors your program for your setup, in addition to anything else you want (that the ECU controls). This modified file is emailed back to you and you simply upload this into your ECU.
Standard improvements include leaning out the stock air/fuel mixture, removing the factory top speed limiter, raising the RPM limiter from the factory 69550RPM to 7200RPM, as well as a much better DSC (Dynamic Stability Control) program. I delt only with Volker Kurch at MTH, and the whole process went very smooth. I had Volker remove the factory "throttle hold". This allows the engine RPM to spin down much faster. The stock program "holds" engine RPM for about 1 second after throttle release. While this makes for a smoother ride, it also makes for slower rev matched upshifting. Ditching factory throttle hold is definitely the best thing short of replacing the factory fly wheel with a lighter one.
This is the Car Tune software used for downloading and uploading to your ECU through the OBD port.
MTH sends you the OBD interface via Luftpost. I did my MTH mod when they still only operated out of Germany. They now have a US distributor located in Texas; MTH USA
Since MTH Car Tune runs on Microsoft Windows, I am a Macintosh person and you can destory your ECU if you mess up the ECU upload, I had my buddy Stevie N. do both the download and upload for my MTH mod. Thanks Stevie!
Right off the bat, low RPM engine torque was greatly improved. That was "night and day". Next was the removal of the throttle hold. Engine RPM spins down much faster than stock for quicker rev matching up upshifts. With the speed limiter removed... well, the fastest I've run her so far is 132MPH. With my current setup, she probably won't see much higher speed than that. And no, I did not adorn my engine or rear hatch with MTH stickers. That was just fun with Adobe Photoshop;-)
After having the MINI dyno'd last month, I was inspired to try 100 octane fuel. The "tuner file" I purchased from MTH includes 12 months of free updates. If you make future engine modifications, MTH can further tailor your ECU program. My initial program was for 91 octane fuel. I just got my new 100 octane file from Volker at MTH. A quick 7 day turn around. I had Stevie N. over for the new file upload. Dyno results HERE
I had no intention of the 100 octane being a permanent modification. In the interest of speed & power, I just thought I'd give it a try. Well, a month of $6 a gallon got old pretty quick. Good times, but not worth the cost to me. Once again, not being a Windows guy, I was fortunate enough to have my neighbor Damon over to get the 91 octane MTH Tuner File loaded back into the MINI. I never thought I could be so happy to pay $3.50 a gallon.