They are the same, some are just on tighter than others. Sometimes you get lucky and they'll come off with some wiggling and a firm tug. Other times they won't budge. Like I said, my last parts car didn't need a puller to get the wheel off, but I did need one for the car I worked on before that. Exact same removal process, just got more lucky the second time around. My guess is that the wheel may have been removed before, so it wasn't pressed on as tightly as it would have been from the factory or had less time to rust to the column, but who knows.

Either way, at least you got it fixed. Sucks you had to spend money to get the ac back together though.