Leather seat cleaning

What’s up guys? So a month ago I bought a wrecked 06 LGT wagon as a donor car for my 05 OBXT. Swapped the entire drivetrain and gutted to LGT to sell the parts. My OBXT Limited has tan leather and the LGT has black. I’m planning on swapping but thing is that the black leather seats and carpet have a bit of a musty smell from that car sitting for about a year. I’ve read that a 50/50 solution water and distilled white vinegar can help neutralize the smell but is that the best option? I’m worried the smell has gotten into the actual foam material below the leather. Has anyone dealt with this type of cleaning before?

Yes actually, when I picked up my current LGT it had been sitting for a while and the seats had some mildew on them.

 

Now, I'm not saying that this is guaranteed to work - this is just my personal experience. You might damage your seats if you try it, etc.

 

I was originally going to toss the seats but I wanted to see how they would clean up. Kept the passenger seat, initially hit it with a mist of 70% ISO, rubbed it down, and left it in the sun and kept it out of humid environments for a while. Then I got a bottle of undiluted vinegar and spent a long time with a bristle brush and a cloth scrubbing the little bit of mildew off and making sure to get in between all of the seams and into the perforations in the leather in the center section of the seat. I also vacuumed multiple times. The vinegar smell stuck with the seat for a couple of days but eventually went away. I found a bottle of leather cleaner and used that and scrubbed the seats, dried it, and wiped it down with water to make sure it wouldn't smell like the cleaner. Let it dry and it still had a fairly strong smell from the cleaning but I couldn't quite get rid of it. Brought it inside for a sim racing setup and it eventually lost the soap smell and has been working fine ever since.

 

Hope this at least gives you an idea of where to start. I'm not responsible if you break anything.

So I took an hour this morning and cleaned the front and rear seats with some leather cleaner&conditioner and the musty smell has seemed to disappear. I’ll be checking back in the morning just to let them sit for a bit to see if it comes back.