After seeing this brought up in some other posts, I wanted to throw this out to the masses. Feel free to add anything you want.

All of this can be had at a Sears, Harbor Freight, Big Lots, ect...
The point is for most home jobs a Snap-on or Mac set is overkill.
Buy what your budget allows and go with a decent name brand.

1. a set of metric 3/8 drive shallow and deep sockets 10mm to 19mm

2. a set of metric 1/2 drive sockets 10mm to 24mm or bigger if comes in a set.
Really nothing in a normal driveway repair should go bigger than 24mm ???

3. 3/8 drive extensions 3" long up to 24" long, get some wobble tips also.

4. 1/2 drive ext. 3" to 12" long.

5. a good set of screwdrivers, both flat blade and phillups in various lengths and
sizes.
DON'T go cheap on the Phillups screwdrivers!!!! Trust me on this!!

6. 3/8 and 1/2 inch drive ratchets, I suggest getting a long handled 1/2 drive also
for lug nuts and such, transmission mounting bolts.

7. a set of cheap 1/4 drive socket/driver bits kit and a couple extensions.

8. a set of open/box wrenches 8mm to 24mm, get a decent brand here, Stanley
is not to bad.

9. a set of allen wrenches and or allen sockets, 4mm to 10mm should be good.

10. good cutting pliers, crimping pliers, real Vise Grips pliers.

11. Volt/ohm meter, digital is prefered, 12V test light, various different crimp
terminals and some shrink tubing for wire connections.

12. a nice tool box to put it all in.

A couple other things I can think of.

1. Fender cover/protector. Will save you from accidental scratching your fender paint.

2. Floor jack. Not recomended if you dont have garage etc to work in though.

3. Jack stands. Cant stress this enough. Key safety item if you plan to crawl under your car while working on it.

4. Neede nose pliers. both long and short.

5. Extendable magnetic pick up tool. You will drop bolts etc. Makes it much easier to pick them up...

6. Soldering iron. If you want to do electrical work do it right, solder your connections. Will save you headache of finding problem later.

7. flashlights. Mini mag will work for most stuff, but a nice long flexible LED light will make seeing in dark hard to reach spots easier.

Another handy thing is a torque wrench :) ( 1/2in....need it for most big stuff)

and the little tool for rear brake piston

The ratcheting box end "speed wrenches" in 10mm, 14mm, 17mm are really nice to have..you can take half the car apart with those 3 sizes.

Long nose needle nose pliers

wheel chocks

Good job guys, that is what I am looking for. Always more stuff than I remember.

Can/should this be a sticky? to help out the folks who want to work on their cars but need a decent tool list to start with.

Thanks all, CajunRX8

Maybe Update the first post with a list.....and it will be more relevant

I think Sears has huge tool sales in Jan....Craftsman makes decent stuff..and has a lifetime warranty

Often the packages are really cheap for a nice set...especially when they are on sale for 1/2 price :)

( don't construe this as an add...I don't own may Craftsman tools.....)