Recently, I've covered about 40k air miles in Asia and North America with my "new" spinner and it has held up quite well over all pavements.

So I would advise if you friend has a quality spinner (read excellent wheels), then his trip to Europe will probably be OK.

That said, the only real way to avoid mechanical issues is to have a tough suitcase without wheels.

As an aside, I do believe the durability gap between spinner and puller carry-ons has closed significantly, as there seem to be fewer horror story posts regarding wheel breakage.