If you think you have a chance of beating the thread it’s up to you whether you bail to save the repair cost, or keep going in the hopes some lucky rolls on the RNG get you to the end of a thread and the cred that comes with it. Martyring only gives antifreeze if you do it three times in a row.

Also as far as we know, the cost at Bruce Bear (which is constant no matter how often you offer to blow him) is on a linear scale, so it’ll cost you the same to repair 10% damage 3 times as it will to repair 30% damage once. But since the decay rate is somewhat variable with some equipment (due to rounding), you’re probably marginally better off waiting to repair. I don’t know of a build which would avoid Bruce Bear’s payments.