Abstract: The present invention is directed to a method for coating a substrate with a variety of coating compositions thereby reducing mapping of a coating composition deposited onto the substrate. In certain embodiments, the present invention is directed to the deposition of a zirconium based pretreatment composition onto a substrate with the subsequent deposition of an electrodepositable coating composition, which comprises a soluble alkaline earth metal ion, onto the pretreatment composition. The present invention is also directed to a coating system comprising various layers deposited from the coating compositions disclosed herein.