Brakes and Rotors

[hlava]

I'm a bit confused... no laughing, I know this is standard for me.

A few weeks ago, I had some weird noises from the front of the car during
brake application. With advice from Wayne and others, I decided to examine
my brake rotors and pads(while I was in there). Every thing I've
read/researched made reference to using a C-clamp to close the piston in
order to take every thing off.

I bought a C-clamp in preparation, but then noticed one thing... I didn't
need it. Now, I only took off and examined the front driver side rotor and
brake pads. They came off quiet easily w/o having to use the c-clamp.

Am I doing something wrong(gasp!), or would I only need the c-clamp with the
side that has the master cylinder? This seemed entirely too easy to do. I
was expecting trouble getting the rotor off or having rusted this or that.

What am I missing here?

Later,
Mark