Coating is applied from a coating application chamber to a moving web or backing roll by a rotating premetering rod, a curved or straight wedge, or a premetering blade which is urged against the moving substrate by a plurality of profiling mechanisms which are spaced from one another in the cross machine direction to control the cross machine direction profile of the applied coating to avoid coating streaks. The profiling mechanisms may be hydraulic actuators, machine screws or thermal expansion driven pistons. Cross machine profiling of the premetering device allows control with minimum pressure on the web. Adjustments to the premetering device are only made where necessary to correct nonuniform coating application where detected.