Hi,
In order to fix some leather and headliner material near the door switches, I removed both interior door panels. I did the removal of the panels in my driveway and as careful to put the hardware I removed on the floor of the car. I then brought the panels indoors to remove the arm rests to do my repair. I put all hardware in a plastic bag as it was removed. With the repair done, I re-assembled the first door panel. When I grabbed the 2nd door panel to do the same repair, a washer fell on the floor. I picked it up and found that I had another one on the kitchen counter....presumably from the first door. At this point, I had not removed any hardware from the 2nd door.

So, I'm assuming since I did not place these inside the car when it was in my driveway, I did not remove it when I took the door panels off the car....or I did not notice them. I watched Sam's video on the door panel removal and he does not reference any washers. I also did not remove any hardware when doing the work on my kitchen counter that would have used these washers as I was very careful. Please see the picture and let me know where these damn washers are suppose to go!!

 

 

I believe they go under the screws that hold the arm rest / pull handle to the door panel. If you look at your door panel there are indentations of about that size in the particle board.

I'd bet they stuck to the board and you just didn't notice them when taking it apart.

PS How did you get the door panel off without breaking a single one of those plastic clips? That is amazing repair technique?