A solid inkjet web printer for reducing wrinkles on a web including a solid ink jet engine for jetting a patterned layer of solid jettable ink and a system having a processor, and a spreader, the spreader having a pressure roller and a spreader roller forming a nip and means for adjusting the force applied at the nip. The processor controls the adjustment of the force applied by the pressure and spreader rollers to the printed portion on the web causing the spreader to reduce the force when the non-image portion is in the nip. A sensor for providing a signal to the processor indicates the location of the image and non-image portions of the web.