I do believe that with front loaders some allowances for frictional wear on fabrics must be considered. This knowledge came to me after my mother washed a synthetic pullover sweater of mine with a bath towel because they were both gold in color. The sweater suffered severe pilling. This was in a 1970s Westinghouse front loader. Even with the higher water levels used in those machines and even though those were the only two items in the machine, there was rubbing If she had turned the sweater inside out, the piling would not have happened. I never noticed it on loads of similar weight and texture fabrics. Clothing damage in newer large tumbler washers might come from the user trying to cram everything in one super load and washing heavier fabrics with less sturdy fabrics and not closing zippers, etc. before washing. Sufficient detergent makes the water and clothing slippery so there is less friction and sufficient detergent not only helps hold dirt in suspension, but also helps separate lint and hair from the fabrics making it easier to flush both types of soil out of the laundry. I believe that if you practice some common sense when using any washing machine, you will not see too much damage to the items being washed. If you use the correct detergent properly and do not try to wash everything in stone cold water, you should not see deposits of gunk and sludge in the machine.
Old appliance dealers (who sold other brands) used to swear that Frigidaire washers tore the arms off shirts. I have never seen that, but like other legends, there might have been an instance involving an old shirt with the under arm area weakened by years of attack from sweat and body oils. Maybe it was not washed frequently in a wringer washer since laundry was a bigger production with those machines than with an automatic. Then the early 1950s brought a Frigidaire washer to the home and sure enough, when untangling some twisted tangled shirt sleeves, the fabric under the arms of the shirt gave way, but healthy fabric with good stitching was not torm apart by Frigidaire washers.
I also admit that I have not seen a domestic front load tumble action washer with front bearings. I have seen lots of clothes dryers with front bearings or slides, but the rear bearing on clothes dryers is nowhere near as large and heavy duty as in a tumbler washer, nor in the dryers do you usually see spiders running from the bearing to the vanes of the tubs with rods extending from the spider at the back of the tub to the tub frame at the front.
