History Main / FreeWheel

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' episode "Octi-Evil" Buttercup throws a water tower into a monster that then lands on a senior citizen riding a power scooter. A loose tire rolls to Buttercup's feet and then the senior citizen pokes his head out of it, showing that he's just fine.

* ''Series/{{Lucifer}}''. The burning tire version happens after Maze activates the remote-controlled bomb in Chloe's car (Chloe isn't in there, she just did it to [[WomanScorned indicate how pissed off she was]]).

* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'': Helix zooms past on [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00542.htm an office chair]]. In the next frame, two wheels bounce back into view.

** Alex Albon spinning off the barriers at the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix [=FP3=] with his left rear tire bounding into the air and rolling to a stop a few feet from where the car slides to received [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LZzJKXtKw4 it's own multi angle video]].

** Michael Schumacher snapping off both left wheels with the tire barrier during Qualifying in Australia in 1994 with both wheels making their way back across the track is show in ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l77m-u2EdM The Top 10 Crashes You Forgot]]''.

* This is fairly common in car crashes in general. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-5pPEq7O4k&t=0m58s Here's]] a peculiar case : during a high speed police chase with a lumber truck, the rear of the trailer caught fire, causing one of the flaming tires to blow loose and roll free alongside the ''still moving'' truck.
* Even dislocated wheels can have a mind of their own, as shown in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGNB3Vy6YoI this V8 Supercars clip]]. And a sense of humor.

* In ''Series/Battlebots,'' ''Series/RobotWars,'' and other [[UsefulNotes/RobotCombat robot combat events]], it's fairly common for robots with exposed wheels to have them torn off by opponents' weapons, which often results in a wheel or tire rolling away across the arena.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010''. In "Satisfaction", Mercy and Red Arrow are blasting away at each other in an underground carpark, then we cut to a shot of Lex Luthor calmly watching as a hubcap rolls past him after Red Arrow blows up a vehicle.

* In ''B.C.'s Quest for Tires'', if the unicycle crashes, its wheel comes loose and bounces across the screen.

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* In the ColdOpen of ''Anime/TheCastleOfCagliostro'', the casino staff's cars fall apart as a result of VehicularSabotage. A wheel from one rolls away and hits the bumper of the one car that had remained intact thus far, causing it to collapse. Additionally, when the car carrying the thugs chasing Clarice crashes, one of its wheels goes flying.
* ''Manga/BlackLagoon''. During the Greenback Jane arc, after the gangsters chasing the title character make the mistake of firing on the Rip-Off Church, only to get a hail of bullets in response (including from an M60 machine gun), they beat a hasty retreat in their shot-up cars. A wheel comes off in the process, but they (wisely) don't stop.

* "The Wheel", a story in the Creator/DCComics AnthologyComic ''The Witching Hour'', has this happen with a wrecked carriage. In this case, the wheel survived because it was "haunted" and indeed had caused the crash in the first place.

* ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/T2_tire_roll_4853.jpg after the truck is blown up]], shortly followed by the iconic OutOfTheInferno shot.
* In ''Film/TheTitfieldThunderbolt'' when the railway's locomotive is derailed. Which really shouldn't be physically possible to achieve with a steam locomotive, but hey, RuleOfFunny.

* In the New Zealand-made action-comedy film ''Film/NeverSayDie'', a [[HollywoodPoliceDrivingAcademy fleet of police cars]] drives into a one-way bus tunnel to pursue the protagonists - not realising that there actually is a bus heading in the opposite direction. Predictably, a wheel can be seen rolling out of the tunnel not long after.
* ''Film/ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld'' - Terry-Thomas's Jeep, its front end damaged by an off-road swerve, rides more and more erratically until it goes into a tunnel with a large smash - a single wheel rolls out the other end, followed by the rest of the Jeep that finally rolls over and dies.
* One of the more visible continuity goofs in ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'' is the loose wheel from the moon buggy that bounces through the chase while the buggy continues on with all its wheels.
* ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006''. When Bond rolls his Aston Martin a wheel goes flying off in the direction of the camera -- presumably this was unintentional, though it certainly adds to the drama of the crash.

* In ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}'', Deadpool emerges from a vehicle that rolled over and crashed on a bridge, after a rogue rim spins out to the side.
* An unusual variation occurs in ''Film/TheLoveBug'', where the racers driving Herbie see a lone wheel roll away after getting sideswiped by Thorndyke's car, only to discover moments later that it is ''their'' wheel that has just fallen off (thanks to some earlier VehicularSabotage). Naturally, this ''causes'' a crash.
* ''Film/BlackPanther2018''. Ulysses Klaue fires his ArmCannon at [[ActionGirl Nakia and Okoye]], causing their vehicle to literally get blown to pieces around them, including the requisite FreeWheel [[FunnyBackgroundEvent in the background.]]
* Happens in ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'' despite being a vertical crash. When the hero team's trailers fall off the cliff after the ''Tyrannosaur'' attack, one wheel flies up towards the camera from the massive explosion at the bottom.

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': The Visser's latest plan is to unleash a living tornado that's attracted to morphing energy, pursuing Marco morphing to gorilla as he drives a truck. The monster eats a minivan, with Marco seeing the wheel following him.

* The Reliant Robin in ''Series/MrBean'' repeatedly does this as a RunningGag.
* Several times on ''Series/TopGear'' -- for example, when Clarkson tries to use his SpikedWheels in the "alternative police car" challenge.
* One ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' episode uses it for misdirection: it'd be natural to think that the camera's focusing on the wheel rolling out of the wreckage just because that's a standard convention for filming car explosions, but it's actually because that wheel is where all the money got hidden...
* This happened on an early ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' episode. We see Gibbs diving to avoid a car bomb blast, then a flaming tire lands next to him.
* Often done as a gag on ''Series/CanadasWorstDriver''. One time, it was the steering wheel.

* Used for a spoof on Australian comedy series ''Full Frontal'' about Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger doing a road safety video. He appears as Film/TheTerminator and blows up the vehicle with a rocket launcher. Cue flaming tire. "Now it is safe to cross."

* ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaTheTwoThrones'', at the end of one of the chariot-driving sequences.

* An exploding Runner or Racer in ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' will usually throw off at least one of these (of the "on fire" variant).
* The intro sequence of ''VideoGame/DayOfTheTentacle'' has the car wreck offscreen with a bouncing wheel.
* In ''B.C.'s Quest for Tires'', if the unicycle crashes, its wheel comes loose and bounces across the screen.

* This happen's when you crash in Taito's ''Continental Circus'', the game was also made with a stereoscopic 3D Edition, making it even scarier as it flies towards your face.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. After Abe crashes Homer's car and consequently has to walk along the neighborhood, a hub cap manages to roll alongside him, ''even though the crash happened the previous day''. Abe just tells it to "go home", and it seems to oblige.
* Also parodied in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' where a tire can be seen flying away from an exploding ''spaceship''.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' This occurs in the episode ''Something Smells" when [=SpongeBob=] tries asking a boat driver if he is ugly. When his breath distracts the driver, he crashes the car and it explodes to leave one tire to land on [=SpongeBob=]'s face.

* A text-only piece from ''ComicBook/TransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'' involves Swerve returning to his ruined eponymous establishment after the events of "Remain in Light," trying to vault over and behind the bar. He fails miserably and crashes out of view, with one of his wheels bouncing into view from behind the bar and doing three perfect loops around the legs of local psychologist [[{{Adorkable}} Rung]] before said wheel comes to a rest. Since wheels are typically integrated into Cybertronian anatomy, this is usually treated as something akin to losing a finger, but given everything else that's happened so far in the arc, Swerve cheerfully brushes it off.

* Even dislocated wheels can have a mind of their own, as shown in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcGu1_jaD8g this V8 Supercars clip]]. And a sense of humor.

* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'': Helix crashes [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00542.htm an office chair]], its tiny wheels fly off.

** Whenever a waiter [[DishDash drops plates]] or some similar accident occurs, there is always one undamaged plate that rolls out of the wreckage (as mentioned in ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'').

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld/SoulMusic'' hangs a lampshade on it when describing the carriage crash that kills the heroine's parents. In fact, due to ''Discworld'''s [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality Law Of Narrative Causality]], this happens in every single crash. Not just the ones featured in the books - ''every'' one.

** Analogously, whenever a waiter [[DishDash drops plates]] or some similar accident occurs, there is always one undamaged plate that rolls out of the wreckage (as mentioned in ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'').

* In ''Film/{{Deadpool}}'', Deadpool emerges from a vehicle that rolled over and crashed on a bridge, after a rogue rim spins out to the side.

* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by billionaire Elon Musk prior to the launch of {{UsefulNotes/SpaceX}}'s Falcon Heavy rocket in 2018. The test payload for the rocket's first launch was Elon Musk's ''personal electric car'' (normally sand or concrete would be used as a dummy payload, but Musk intentionally wanted to do something "silly"). Citing the experimental nature of the brand-new rocket and the high risk of failure, Musk commented that he "had this image of just a giant explosion on the pad, a wheel bouncing down the road..."

* Even dislocated wheels can have a mind of their own, as shown in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcGu1_jaD8g this V8 Supercars clip]]. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments And a sense of humor]].

When a car is wrecked (or explodes), often a lone wheel will be seen rolling (or flying) away from the vehicle. Since EveryCarIsAPinto, it may well be [[IncendiaryExponent on fire]]. This is pretty much a DeadHorseTrope (if not a DeadUnicornTrope), so expect to almost only see it in parodies.

* In the New Zealand-made action-comedy film ''Film/NeverSayDie'', a fleet of police cars drives into a one-way bus tunnel to pursue the protagonists - not realising that there actually is a bus heading in the opposite direction. Predictably, a wheel can be seen rolling out of the tunnel not long after.

* In the New Zealand-made action-comedy film ''Film/NeverSayDie'', a fleet of police cars drives into a one-way bus tunnel to pursue the protagonists - not realising that there actually is a bus heading towards them. Predictably, a wheel can be seen rolling out of the tunnel not long after.

* Parodied in an Australian insurance advertisement from around the late 1970s or early 1980s, where a wheel comes loose from a moving car and leaves a trail of destruction in its wake. It's still rolling at the end of the advert.

* Even dislocated wheels can have a mind of their own, as shown in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcGu1_jaD8g this V8 Supercars clip]]. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny And a sense of humor]].