Getting smell out of vintage seats?

NGTTwo · Sep 23, 2025 at 5:32 PM

Looking to restore a set of vehicle seats but they have a 40-50 year old smell to them, hard to describe, between worn, slightly mildewy, old leather, etc...

Would want to check leatherique or equivalent leather re-dying and rejuvenation techniques before they are torn down completely but I'd like to start by getting the smell out.

Any thoughts, ideas, links?

Thank you!

stasha · Sep 23, 2025 at 6:45 PM

Ozonator!
I had a smell problem with my 15 Hudson recently when going up for sale -- musty, damp, old smell. Since I have 6 project cars and smells bee's a problem with all of them eventually, I bought an ozonator off Amazon (under $60) and let it run a 20 minute cycle for each of two days.
Works great in enclosed areas -- kind of a neutral smell.
But note, this only works on surface accessible to the zone (i.e., topical mist application) -- deep cleaning is more iffy (depends on the porosity of the material -- which in the case of my Hudson seats, were pretty porous).

Also beware, ozone can kill you -- hence the "Danger" warning card that comes with the unit. Ozone exposure won't drop you dead, but prolonged breathing is poisonous.

NGTTwo · Sep 23, 2025 at 7:02 PM

Does the ozone machine damage the leather? Should it be conditioned after or protected in any way?

stasha · Sep 23, 2025 at 8:10 PM

I have read that long-term ozone exposure will damage plastics, vinyl and leather. But the words were "long term ozone exposure".
I dont want to be the one to tell you that "vaccines are always safe" if you get my analogy.

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