Various aspects pertain to a method for a UE to unilaterally initiate a request to a serving base station to change or enhance beam coverage at the UE. The UE may measure one or more characteristics of a directional beam transmitted by the base station and determines whether channel reliability for the beam should be improved. If channel reliability is below a threshold, then the UE may transmit a request to the base station seeking to adjust coverage of the beam (such as coverage enhancements). Such request may seek to adjust one or more transmit or receive parameters associated with the beam or channels transmitted therein. The UE may switch to using a pre-defined set of coverage enhancement parameters or procedures either automatically after transmitting the request or upon receipt of a grant by the base station.