Pro tune over mhd tune: worth it?

[Grainwashed]

I talked a well known tuner in my area and he told me there wasnt much point to having a custom tune done on my car on the stock turbo and no ethanol blending. How true is this? Im not expecting major power gains over the mhd tune but surely the mhd tunes are pretty conservative as they have to work on every car they're flashed on. Im fbo and on the mhd stage 2+ tune and im very happy but i feel like the car can do more

[wheela]

I think "worth it" is in the eye of the beholder. I agree with you that OTS tunes will be on the conservative side. I'd be a little suprised if you couldn't wring more power out with a custom tune, but how much? Would it be a noticable increase? But it's probably not just a question of overall power. For example, I feel like the 2+ tune doesn't ramp load in quick enough in the lower RPM's. I think they did this so people don't lug the engine in higher gears, but I wouldn't do that, so I'd prefer a little more load down low for getting out of the hole quicker with x-drive. I could get that with a custom tune. If I wasn't already planning on upgrading my turbo, I'd pursue a custom tune for the stocker. But since i'm planning on upgrading, i'm choosing to hold off for now.

[ErvGotti]

There's 2 main ways to get more power out of turbo vehicles, more boost and more timing. Both are octane dependent. Typically with MHD OTS maps they maximize boost and run lower timing for the giving octane map. This allows it the most power, while preventing knock and misfires that comes with higher timing maps.

I agree with your tuner, bang for the buck is not worth it. They might be able to get a few more degrees of timing for a modest 5-10 hp gain. The MHD OTS tunes are solid for bolt on cars.