Dave honestly I wouldnt Buy ANYTHING with your "student discount". Ive been turning wrenchs a long time and honestly Craftman are just as good as snap on or mac, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF RATCHETS. Craftman ratchets suck balls. With that said The snap on tools can easilly be bought USED off of ebay.
1. Wrenches I own Matco wrenches and honestly there not to bad but I would Reccomend S&K or snap on either one of them are more comfortable to use in your hand, I would Not just get 1 set of them either. Start with a long pattern wrench set and buy you a stubby set down the road. Dont forget about ratchet wrenches, I prefer the Gear Wrench Reversable.
2. Hammers I prefer the dead soft snap-on hammers, I also like my craftman 2# with a 10" handle. I also have ball pein hammers and honestly I hardly EVER use them all they do in my opinion is take up space.
3. Ratchets with out a doubt the more you have the better you will be. Stubby Flex, Flex long handled, flex bent handle. Those would be a good start once you get to turning them you will figure out what other ones you may like to have. I would defintely buy snap on or S&K though, Mac arnt to bad but I dont like the matco or craftman ratchets. Nothing sucks worse then stripping the teeth and taking the skin off the ole knuckles.
4. Screwdrivers I prefer the matco. I use to have a couple sets of snap ons and traded them in for the matcos. But with any srewdriver make sure you use them for the intended purpose, NOT as a punch or a prybar. I tell anyone that uses mine if I see them using them as a prybar there gonna be missing some teeth..
5. Prybars I really like my Matco's because they do have a metal butt end for smacking them with a hammer.
6. chissels and punches I have always liked my snap-on's, A tip for you DONT SHARPEN THEM WITH A BENCH GRINDER, use a diamond hone and they will last for ever.
7. Air tools are IMO a no brainer, INGERSOLRAND. Actually you will probably be better off spendint the money for the air ratches in 1/4" and 3/8". for Impacts it depends on what you are doing, I have a 1/4", 3/8", and a 1/2" and honstly I use the 3/8" 90% of the time. There is NO Need for a 3/4" if you buy the big daddy 1/2". Mine is over 10 years old and I can still change tires on semi's WITH THE PROPER AIR SYSTEM. The 1/4" impact is nice for Transmision rebuilding. I would also reccomend getting a long barrell air hammer, air drill, and atleast a 90 degree die grinder. I have a straight,90 degree, and a 45 degree. I use the 90 the most. (Roloc disc pads).
8. Sockets. I wish I would have it all over to do again, I wouldnt have bought any chrome sockets, I prefer the impacts cause I can use them on a ratchet or on a air gun doesnt matter, honstly I bought a set of impacts for 1/4" 3/8" and 1/2" and they are a CHEAP Brand (grey pneumatic) and I really like them, I have them in shallow, deep and flex sockets for all 3 drive sizes. I would reccomend buying the semi deep, hex sockets, and torx bits all in Snap-on.
9. Specialty tools pullers ect. ect. are either cheap ones from the parts store or I made them on a lathe and mill.
10. Diagnostic tools I prefer the OTC genysis, I had an ole snappy and havent looked back since i got the OTC. FLUKE is by far the best multi meter but I get by just fine with my cheap 20 dollar craftsman, I do like my snap-on test light though, also a VERY WORTH WHILE TOOLS IS a POWER PROBE III pricey but well worth it.
11. Soldering Iron. I would defintly get a butane soldering iron, I like it because I dont have to drag a cord out, plus if your like me I usually dont even bother bringing every vehichle into a bay so it makes it nice to be able to just take it outside with out a cord. Mine is a Power Probe.
But before I bought ANYTHING I would check Ebay for used tools, ESPECIALLY THE SNAP-ON. Hell I picked up a set of semi deep metric 3/8" drive 8-19mm for 15.00 on ebay.
