**** REMEMBER MHP? ****
It's absolutely bizarre. I've never experienced a business person with such insecurity go on the defensive. The guy must have Sarah Palin DNA or something.

Seriously, why would someone who is doing so well and offers such an excellent product, and with big paying customers around the world (and able to distribute their product through MB/BMW/Audi dealers, etc.), get on the internet and act this way? It makes no sense whatsoever. And why not just do a refund and let it go? (And let the ego go, too, btw)
If I sell a great product and am the very best out there, and doing a great business, then there's no reason for me to get defensive over some forum members who are pissed off about me and my product. Why the hell should I care? So what? I know I'm the best and I'm doing a profitable business.
I've seen complaints about Renntech and Kleemann's products. But I've never seen those companies get on forums and start defending themselves in a school boy manner.
I've read his posts on AD and it's kinda mind boggling. And that's what has put a sour taste in my mouth with MHP. Not people bashing MHP on forums. I'm an adult and I can do my own research. But when a business goes on the extreme defense like that, I'm running the other way.
I know he doesn't do the tunes himself (hires other people) and I've spoken with Dave recently about tuning (which is odd because Andy says he's no longer using Dave
) It doesn't matter if Andy's just the front and people behind him are doing the work. And that even makes the whole defensive response by him more odd. He's not the "skilled artist with the ego," but he sure acts like it
Why?I'm in a competitive field but we don't attack each other and claim superiority (and it's all about IP in my work.) The top people in my business just go about doing their best work and let it speak for itself. And we get criticism everyday. So what.
In the end, the product talks. And if it's the best then there's no reason to give a damn what other people might say about it, good or bad.
It's just stupid childish sh*t otherwise.
The only tuner that has ever touched that ECU is they guys that ANDY paid. After 2 tries and many many month of waiting I called the # that ANDY GAVE ME for his tuner as to get to the bottom of things. So with that said let me say that I have spoken to 2 guys Andy was using to tune the ECU's (phone # came from andy) One of the guys felt bad as to what had happened as he was the tuner and had not heard of the problem I had, so he offered to retune my ECU (mhp's tuner) I told andy about this, he said he was no longer going to use this tuner
Well, wait a minute here, isn't this the guy that did ALL the record breaking ECU tunes for MHP? So the all mighty MHP tune is no longer the same? As a side note, Before I posted I told andy I didn't want to post any of this on the forums, He said " GO RIGHT AHEAD, I DON'T CARE " So with that here we are. Send the ECU back to SIR ANDY 

to take a look at it? WOW, I would have to be A real Stupid Car Salesman Isn't that like a Rapist being the Judge at his own Trial? I will make one last post right after this..
As we can ALL see I WAS NOT HAPPY from the start RIGHT? OK WE ALL AGREE ON THAT RIGHT? O.K...
I will make this last post to ANDY:
You do what you think is right .. If you feel you mhp oweS me a full refund , then send the refund. If you feel MHP only owes me half a refund, then send half.. and if you feel MHP treated me right and I got what I paid for then PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME A REFUND... It is now up to MHP to end this. Please MHP let us know what you decide so we can all move on.. Thanks for your time and sorry for all the caps lol
I even drove the car 350 mile on race fuel as Andy said the ECU needs time to map it's self. that's alot of $$ in race fuel.. (350miles?)
Last edited by rarfinancial; Aug 15, 2009 at 12:16 PM.
I only know of Dave from B&G Tuning that was tuning for MHP, and whenever mentioning MHP's tunes Andy only ever spoke of Dave - who's the other tuner?
As we can ALL see I WAS NOT HAPPY from the start RIGHT? OK WE ALL AGREE ON THAT RIGHT? O.K...
I will make this last post to ANDY:
You do what you think is right .. If you feel you mhp oweS me a full refund , then send the refund. If you feel MHP only owes me half a refund, then send half.. and if you feel MHP treated me right and I got what I paid for then PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME A REFUND... It is now up to MHP to end this. Please MHP let us know what you decide so we can all move on.. Thanks for your time and sorry for all the caps lol
I even drove the car 350 mile on race fuel as Andy said the ECU needs time to map it's self. that's alot of $$ in race fuel.. (350miles?)
350 miles also seems like a lot of time for the ECU to adapt. Maybe you should monitor your fuel trims and see what up.
Last edited by hooleyboy; Aug 15, 2009 at 07:17 PM.
From reading the other site it does not seem like you will see a cent from MHP, unless you file a civil suit.
Those seeking ECU tuning get everything in writing and make certain you have proven methods to calculate performance changes.
Rick seems like you have been paying a steep price for leading the 63 modification train.
MHP vs TEAM AMG for the flag and the money
The Best of Mercedes & AMG
From reading the other site it does not seem like you will see a cent from MHP, unless you file a civil suit.
Those seeking ECU tuning get everything in writing and make certain you have proven methods to calculate performance changes.
Rick seems like you have been paying a steep price for leading the 63 modification train.
MHP vs TEAM AMG for the flag and the money

Were/are you happy with the Goodspeed headers, or did that not work out either? Sorry to hear it hasn't been the smoothest of sailing with advancing your CLS63's performance - hope you get it to where you want it to be in the end.

Were/are you happy with the Goodspeed headers, or did that not work out either? Sorry to hear it hasn't been the smoothest of sailing with advancing your CLS63's performance - hope you get it to where you want it to be in the end.
As we can ALL see I WAS NOT HAPPY from the start RIGHT? OK WE ALL AGREE ON THAT RIGHT? O.K...
I will make this last post to ANDY:
You do what you think is right .. If you feel you mhp oweS me a full refund , then send the refund. If you feel MHP only owes me half a refund, then send half.. and if you feel MHP treated me right and I got what I paid for then PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME A REFUND... It is now up to MHP to end this. Please MHP let us know what you decide so we can all move on.. Thanks for your time and sorry for all the caps lol
I even drove the car 350 mile on race fuel as Andy said the ECU needs time to map it's self. that's alot of $$ in race fuel.. (350miles?)
Thanks
In my own field, IP is a very thorny issue. If you take what's already there and make some tweaks, then the IP may or may not be changed enough to be recognized as new property. In addition you are basing the work on someone else's IP (in a tuner's case, Daimler AG property.)
This falls under "derivative works." Derivative works are anything that is based (derived) from an existing body of work (original authorship.) A work can be derived from an existing copyright, etc..
If you take the copyrighted source code of any program and physically modify it (revise the program) then you've created a derivative work of that program.
However, the law states that only the owner of copyright in a work has the right to prepare, or to authorize someone else to create, a new version of that work. The owner is generally the author or someone who has obtained rights from the author.
This is an issue with tuners and which is why MB doesn't recognize it (and fights any trends towards open source flashing, etc.) and to keep their own IP difficult to crack. Despite the SAE J2534 pass thru standard law.
Tuners are, to a certain degree, pirates of existing IP. The irony is that the tuners want to maintain their own IP rights, yet they are utilizing pre-existing IP from the original mfg. They are deriving works, but without the consent of the original author.
Under the law, tuners may actually have no IP rights to their own re-map. So, it's an area of law that's fuzzy. Tuners may claim IP but how that holds up in a court of law is not exactly clear. They are taking existing proprietary password protected code and unraveling it, and then claiming to be changing enough to therefore warrant new IP. And they password protect it. So they are actually doing themselves what they don't want the consumer of the tune to do. Hypocritical to a certain degree.
Not all tuners use password protection, etc., forcing consumers to resort to reflashing completely, etc.. Some think it's not good business practice to do so. But it's probably done only because the tuners themselves don't trust each other. And so the consumer suffers.
As for password protection (altering Mode27 access), my first reaction is that you are now altering MB code and my second is that the dealer will fail the ECU for lack of access, replace the ECU under warranty then send the original back to MB for examination. I would think buying a tool that invites that problem would be a mistake.
Ironic that someone who has 'appropriated' others' IP (namely ours) and re-sold to same customer should make such a fuss......
You (and I) may very well find that the V8tt five series with firmware will be a real monster. If it is anything like the seven you are likely to see almost 100 ft-lbs from just off idle to the top J
You (and I) may very well find that the V8tt five series with firmware will be a real monster. If it is anything like the seven you are likely to see almost 100 ft-lbs from just off idle to the top J
Yes I have and wouldn't mind a 335i and tunning it up. Things are monsters but I like leg room so I'm waiting for that 5 series. Fingers are crossed, I'd even do the European delivery so I can open her up in Germany!

Tuners can only protect themselves via encryption, passwords, and/or disclosure agreements. And not under the pretense of IP as any sort of exclusive use right. And that would mean that any end user disclosure agreements are also legally weak if there cannot be any exclusive proprietary rights established.
I don't believe any tuner can legally argue that their software tune is proprietary since it's derivative to begin with. There was a huge case a few years ago that set precedent for how difficult it is to claim derivative code as proprietary.
And despite the fact that tuning the ECU is a "calibration," the process uses digital files and flash technology. It could even involve case law under DMCA.
But the reality is that the ECU tuning industry is pretty small in the overall scheme of things, and any supposed "stealing of IP" in this context has very little meaning to the rest of the world.
Tuners can only protect themselves via encryption, passwords, and/or disclosure agreements. And not under the pretense of IP as any sort of exclusive use right. And that would mean that any end user disclosure agreements are also legally weak if there cannot be any exclusive proprietary rights established.
I don't believe any tuner can legally argue that their software tune is proprietary since it's derivative to begin with. There was a huge case a few years ago that set precedent for how difficult it is to claim derivative code as proprietary.
And despite the fact that tuning the ECU is a "calibration," the process uses digital files and flash technology. It could even involve case law under DMCA.
But the reality is that the ECU tuning industry is pretty small in the overall scheme of things, and any supposed "stealing of IP" in this context has very little meaning to the rest of the world.
There is very little difference between taking the cover off the Holley four barrel carburetor and checking out the emulsion tubes, mains and idle jets and the process of pulling calibration data from an ECU and looking at changes in timing, mixture and most importantly, torque or other performance limits. Once a customer buys the product, it is theirs and, barring any agreement not to look, they are free to "peek under the hood". The only practical difference is the more complicated electronic screwdriver needed to do the peeking.
In the absence of the correct tools, a customer need only record ECU data to determine changes in mixture, timing and the like. With advanced tools, the customer can even determine when limits have been met and when a "tune" permits more performance before triggering a particular limit switch. All of this can be done without ever peeking inside the box.
In my ideal world, an emphasis would be put on bringing value to the customer relationship by providing an evolving tuning relationship whereby the customer can continue to participate in the tuner’s ongoing development process. I find that these types of relationships are enduring, rewarding and tend to span many different projects.
There is very little difference between taking the cover off the Holley four barrel carburetor and checking out the emulsion tubes, mains and idle jets and the process of pulling calibration data from an ECU and looking at changes in timing, mixture and most importantly, torque or other performance limits. Once a customer buys the product, it is theirs and, barring any agreement not to look, they are free to "peek under the hood". The only practical difference is the more complicated electronic screwdriver needed to do the peeking.
In the absence of the correct tools, a customer need only record ECU data to determine changes in mixture, timing and the like. With advanced tools, the customer can even determine when limits have been met and when a "tune" permits more performance before triggering a particular limit switch. All of this can be done without ever peeking inside the box.
In my ideal world, an emphasis would be put on bringing value to the customer relationship by providing an evolving tuning relationship whereby the customer can continue to participate in the tuner’s ongoing development process. I find that these types of relationships are enduring, rewarding and tend to span many different projects.
As to the issue at hand....I'm wondering why Rick hasn't commented on Andy's offer to return the ECU to look at the checksum ? Did Rick sign any sort of document from MHP that stipulated that he would not let any other tuner look at the ECU ??







