diff --git a/spring-webflux/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/DefaultWebClient.java b/spring-webflux/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/DefaultWebClient.java
index 9518978298e0..64a37fc59bf9 100644
--- a/spring-webflux/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/DefaultWebClient.java
+++ b/spring-webflux/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/DefaultWebClient.java
@@ -220,6 +220,11 @@ private class DefaultRequestBodyUriSpec implements RequestBodyUriSpec {
 
 		DefaultRequestBodyUriSpec(HttpMethod httpMethod) {
 			this.httpMethod = httpMethod;
+
+			// Add defaultRequest option to WebClient.Builder
+			if (defaultRequest != null) {
+				defaultRequest.accept(this);
+			}
 		}
 
 		@Override
@@ -479,9 +484,6 @@ public Mono<ClientResponse> exchange() {
 		}
 
 		private ClientRequest.Builder initRequestBuilder() {
-			if (defaultRequest != null) {
-				defaultRequest.accept(this);
-			}
 			ClientRequest.Builder builder = ClientRequest.create(this.httpMethod, initUri())
 					.headers(this::initHeaders)
 					.cookies(this::initCookies)
diff --git a/spring-webflux/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/DefaultWebClientTests.java b/spring-webflux/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/DefaultWebClientTests.java
index 2434d9a3f8e6..f95c1d6cafec 100644
--- a/spring-webflux/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/DefaultWebClientTests.java
+++ b/spring-webflux/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/DefaultWebClientTests.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 import java.util.function.Function;
 import java.util.function.Predicate;
 
+import org.assertj.core.api.InstanceOfAssertFactories;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 import org.mockito.ArgumentCaptor;
@@ -524,6 +525,28 @@ public void onStatusHandlersApplyForToEntityMethods() {
 		testStatusHandlerForToEntity(spec.toEntityFlux(BodyExtractors.toFlux(String.class)));
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void onOverrideHeadersUsingBuilder() {
+		// Given
+		WebClient client = this.builder.defaultRequest(spec -> spec.accept(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON))
+				.build();
+		client.get().uri("/path")
+				.accept(MediaType.IMAGE_PNG)
+				.retrieve()
+				.bodyToMono(Void.class)
+				.block(Duration.ofSeconds(10));
+
+		// When
+		ClientRequest request = verifyAndGetRequest();
+
+		// Then
+		assertThat(request)
+				.extracting(ClientRequest::headers)
+				.extracting(HttpHeaders::getAccept)
+				.asInstanceOf(InstanceOfAssertFactories.LIST)
+				.containsExactly(MediaType.IMAGE_PNG);
+	}
+
 	private void testStatusHandlerForToEntity(Publisher<?> responsePublisher) {
 		StepVerifier.create(responsePublisher).expectError(WebClientResponseException.class).verify();
 	}