HTE tune review

[Cubieman]

I keep hearing about this mullet tune as of late, I would like to try it out if possible, if someone could point me to it that would be great.
Would like to compare my current HTE dyno tune to it.

[tnord]

what happened to Paul Claude?

I've been around long enough to be skeptical of the tuner-du-jour. From Evolve, to Frank Smith, to Paul Claude, to Hassan, and now a "mullet" tune?

[heinzboehmer]

+1000 to mullet tune. Miles better than anything else out there.

[Halftim3]

Come by, drive my car with Bryson’s Mullet tune installed. If you love it (which I’m sure you will) I’ll lend you a laptop or you can do it while at my garage.

Pm sent.
OP i was about to purchase hte too.

[cornerbalanced]

Come by, drive my car with Bryson’s Mullet tune installed. If you love it (which I’m sure you will) I’ll lend you a laptop or you can do it while at my garage.

My hero!! I will shoot you a PM, I’ll have to swing by after work sometime. I’ll touch base with Bryson and buy a tune ahead of time, I know I’ll love it!

[cornerbalanced]

Not the factory CSL tune though, right? You shouldn't have an issue with the mullet tune, but if you did not have that option, factory CSL tune modified with stock cam offsets is a good test.

Correct - I’m excited to see!

[cornerbalanced]

Every car is different. Some take really well to tuning and mods, and other have issues. These cars aren't new anymore either. Tons of people have been very happy with Hassan's tining and he was here (m3f) during some great times where we collectively learned new things and really pushed the s54 to almost 400 wheel hp.

Many have had issues with Evolve, ttfs, epic, etc. I don't think it's the tune a lot of the time. I got a canned stage 3 alphaN tune from evolve in 2017 and my car has been running like a raped ape for 8 years since. Luck of the draw methinks.

To be fair, I was perfectly happy with my previous HTE tune…with that said, my standards were far lower then. I was able to overlook smaller drivability issues, and chalked them up to owning/driving a modified car. After purchasing an Epic tune for my E90 M3, I realized I could have both OE-like drivability, AND performance. It did not have to be a give and take. This opened my mind, and ultimately led me to having higher expectations of future tunes.

Also - having the same issue (car stalling coming to a stop with the clutch engaged) with both HTE tunes, where this issue did not exist in both instances before hand made me a bit frustrated. With my first car, I figured something was just wrong with the car-I didn’t attribute it to the tune. I spent a lot of money chasing the issue, vacuum tests, replacing a plethora of sensors, intakes, etc. etc. Even so, the issue persisted. Now I know why. Likewise for my current car, zero codes, zero vacuum leaks (passes a smoke test with flying colors), excellent compression/leakdown numbers…yet the same stalling issue I had with my last car with an HTE tune. Hmm.

[Slideways]

I have an MSS54HP DME. Also used a MAP sensor with factory CSL scaling (purchased from forums) as well as an OE CSL IAT sensor. So, shouldn’t be Alpha-N I don’t think?

I drove the car extensively with the factory ‘tune’ before the flash, and none of these issues presented themselves. Will be curious to see if these issues persist with the mullet tune, I will relay the results and provide another back/back comparison. Considering I’ve had at least one of these issues on two cars with HTE tunes (that did not have issues prior the HTE tune) - plus conversations with other E46 M3 owners with HTE tunes that have expressed similar issues, I felt confident enough to make this review and share my experiences.

Not the factory CSL tune though, right? You shouldn't have an issue with the mullet tune, but if you did not have that option, factory CSL tune modified with stock cam offsets is a good test.

[cornerbalanced]

Are you running non-HP Alpha-N or HP DME CSL? Non-HP Alpha-N from another past popular tuner would do the "full throttle, shift, get back on full throttle buck/hiccup" badly and it is an extremely annoying issue.

Whenever trying to rule out a tuning issue, a good test is always to go back to factory non-CSL or CSL tune and check if the weird issue/s still happen.

I have an MSS54HP DME. Also used a MAP sensor with factory CSL scaling (purchased from forums) as well as an OE CSL IAT sensor. So, shouldn’t be Alpha-N I don’t think?

I drove the car extensively with the factory ‘tune’ before the flash, and none of these issues presented themselves. Will be curious to see if these issues persist with the mullet tune, I will relay the results and provide another back/back comparison. Considering I’ve had at least one of these issues on two cars with HTE tunes (that did not have issues prior the HTE tune) - plus conversations with other E46 M3 owners with HTE tunes that have expressed similar issues, I felt confident enough to make this review and share my experiences.

[Tbonem3]

Every car is different. Some take really well to tuning and mods, and other have issues. These cars aren't new anymore either. Tons of people have been very happy with Hassan's tining and he was here (m3f) during some great times where we collectively learned new things and really pushed the s54 to almost 400 wheel hp.

Many have had issues with Evolve, ttfs, epic, etc. I don't think it's the tune a lot of the time. I got a canned stage 3 alphaN tune from evolve in 2017 and my car has been running like a raped ape for 8 years since. Luck of the draw methinks.

[Avedis]

Come by, drive my car with Bryson’s Mullet tune installed. If you love it (which I’m sure you will) I’ll lend you a laptop or you can do it while at my garage.

[Slideways]

Are you running non-HP Alpha-N or HP DME CSL? Non-HP Alpha-N from another past popular tuner would do the "full throttle, shift, get back on full throttle buck/hiccup" badly and it is an extremely annoying issue.

Whenever trying to rule out a tuning issue, a good test is always to go back to factory non-CSL or CSL tune and check if the weird issue/s still happen.

[cornerbalanced]

Editing this post - I want this to be as fair of a review as possible, and beyond all just want to share my experiences. In my initial post, I primarily listed negatives. This was a mistake and I came off a bit too strong, as there are several redeeming factors to Hassan’s tune as well. I ultimately just want as much information to be out there as possible, and want the aftermarket scene for these cars to advance as much as possible. This is partially what the forums are for

Upsides of HTE’s tune:

- The cost - HTE tunes are extremely competitively priced.

- Dyno tuning at no additional charge. Quite honestly, this is insane, not aware of any other tuners who do this.

- No partial throttle bucking in lower RPMs - this is a fairly common issue with CSL airbox’s. My last E46 also had a Karbonius airbox for a short while with a Paul Claude tune. It was pretty horrible, partial throttle pulls felt like my clutch was slipping. This is NOT the case with my current HTE tune.

- Full throttle pulls feel VERY strong. The car is making solid numbers, and the dyno chart looks great.

Wanted to write an ‘official’ review. In the broader E46 M3 community, I would say HTE is currently one of the more popular tuners for our cars. If you ask what tune you should get on the forums/FB, odds are you’ll have at least a couple people suggesting HTE.

At this point, I’ve had HTE tunes on two of my E46 M3s. One with stock intake and CPI headers, then my current car with stock headers, and a Karbonius CSL airbox. Both tunes were installed by EAS, with adjustments made on their dyno.

I’ll cut to the chase: both tunes weren’t great. I feel like he doesn’t warrant the hype he has amassed, so wanted to chime in with my .02.

See below for a list of complaints:

- Full throttle, high in the rev range, then changing gears, when you get back onto throttle there is a ‘buck’/hiccup … this happens on my current car with a CSL intake, but did not happen on my previous car with stock intake. It’s extremely annoying however, partially when you’re driving hard on track / on twisty roads … you kind of have to drive around this phenomenon so as to not upset the car, which is extremely annoying.

- Partial throttle pulls don’t feel great. They’re okay, I’ll rarely get ‘bucking’ on partial throttle - however, partial throttle pulls do not feel NEARLY as smooth as the car did with the OE tune and airbox. Around town drivability has suffered, noticeably.

- On my most recent tune, I requested CSL shift lights. They don’t really work. When I’m high in the rev range, all the lights on the tacho will light up - when I shift into the next gear, all the lights continue to stay illuminated. I’m talking ALL the lights, from 4k RPM onwards…it can get a bit distracting.

Onto the worst thing - the car will now randomly stall/die completely when coming to a stop!!! This has happened with BOTH of my cars with HTE tunes, and did not occur before hand. This happens most frequently when I’m either pulling into a parking spot, or coming to a red traffic light. I’m in first, I will clutch in and begin braking to come to a stop, and with the clutch in, the car will stall. Again, this has happened on both of my cars with HTE tunes, and had not occurred beforehand with OE/other aftermarket tunes.

Ultimately, the drivability of my car has suffered quite a bit. It no longer feels like the refined product it once was. I now have to drive “around the tune” in more ways than just one.

Before someone says, “you should’ve just gotten the mullet tune!” … I tried, but Bryson didn’t want to give EAS access to his file, and I didn’t/don’t have a windows laptop to flash the tune myself. Ultimately I’m out close to $1,000 on this tune (tune + dyno time), as I will not be keeping it for long. When I figure out a way to flash the mullet tune, I’ll provide a direct comparison.

I also have a few gripes with EAS, but that’s for another day aha.