Tire smoke

Not sure if you mean smoke from tires that are made from clay or the smoke would be made from clay.

I would think the tire material would be unimportant.  For the smoke, rather than clay I would consider cotton.  Another thing occasionally used is angel hair used for Christmas decorations.  Getting hard to find these days but it is more translucent than cotton.  Cotton is pretty much the standard way to make white smoke.

I have a similar need, and will probably use cotton dyed with a  tan dye. I want to make a diorama with a couple of midgets on a dirt track, throwing the dirt out behind the rear tires.  The dirt spray looks a bit more granual than smoke, however, so if anyone has ideas other than tan-dyed cotton I'd like to hear it.

I've used dryer lint for smoke. It looks a little more "wispy," a little less regular and fibrous than the cotton I've tried.

It can be lightly spray-painted, but I fear any liquid dye or paint brushed on would turn it into sodden clumps.

  wildchild

Well having seen the box art ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/SNAP-DRAGGINS-BAD-BOY-CHEVY-STAGING-YELLOW-MODEL-KIT-NEW-SEALED-/310403399671?_trksid=p2047675.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D11%26meid%3D6932663167370170100%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D1005%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D221028523114%26 ) I can understand the clay idea.

I think to keep the cartoon look you could use a plaster of paris-  wet enough to "just" drip and have it build up gradually to recreate the look of the art. I would cover the car in plastic wrap until you're done and the plaster sets. Then remove it and paint the smoke colors

HTH good luck   

Try using painted plastic wrap or reynolds wrap for "smoking tires on a burnout". For "dirt slinging", try the streched cotton ball but use a brush to paint it and let it "glob".