My answer to this is simply, “Yes, get them replated.”
Why? Purely for you—so you can know you did so, and can admire how shiny and uniform they are after the plating.
It is a small thing, perhaps, and one more expense for something you most likely don’t need done, but the feeling of satisfaction knowing you had the job done should be worth it.
I’m restoring my headlight surrounds and have chosen to paint or touch up, which you probably can’t do due to the different applications—wouldn’t want to draw any flaked-off paint into your engine!
Each cadmium plated ring was in different stages (with a fourth still attached to the bulb/light).
One, totally corroded, got painted directly over the remaining cad plating (no sanding since cadmium dust can act like a slow-burn nerve agent) with self-etching primer, then spray painted with Zinc gold plating paint, and translucent hot pink and lime green paint by Testor’s (used for RC models & cars).
The other two surrounds, I have done very light passes over slightly corroded areas with the zinc gold spray paint and a haze of the translucent pink/lime combination, to fill in the spots where there was only the “pot metal” chaff color.
Is it a perfect solution? No. But I absolutely love doing this painting, as I like the result. The translucent pink/lime shifts in color depending on the light angle, but this only mimics cadmium rather than mirrors it.
In the end, I am immeasurably satisfied with the blended result.
So, get those intake trumpets plated (I don’t see paint possibly flaking off as being good for your engine!) and spend time admiring the plater’s handiwork 😊.
Regards,
Scott