yeah, i too was real sceptical about painting door panels, but availability & price made painting the answer for me.
scrub the bejeezus out of them, i used tsp, it is a good cleaner, & adhesion promoter before you spray.
the front panels in my crew, painted the arm rest too
the rear doors
did my sunvisors as well
i painted mine about 2 yrs ago with all SEM stuff, holding up fine even with my 10 yr old & his friends beating the snot out of the back. only spots so far is if you lift up the window crank washers, some of the paint is wore off behind them