Torres, who failed to make it out of the 50m butterfly heats, wasn't taking any chances as she ditched her outdated Speedo LZR for a Jaked.
The 42-year-old swimming mum posted the seventh-fastest time in the 50m free heats, which were led by Australian 17-year-old Cate Campbell in a championship record 24.24sec.
"Obviously, my sponsor is Speedo," Torres said. "Everyone here is wearing these suits and they seem to be going fast. The times are kind of outrageous."
Torres turned back the clock at the Beijing Games, winning three silver medals in her fifth Olympics, but is swimming in just her second World Championships.
As luck would have it, she returned to the world meet in a year when high-tech super-suits have exploded the form-book, fueling a wave of 35 world records with two days of competition left.
The suits are to be banned in 2010, but with records falling right and left Torres decided not to wait.
"I just feel if you want to be on a par with everyone, you've got to do what they're doing," she said after posting a 24.67sec in the heats.
Campbell was followed into the semis by Sweden's Therese Alshammar, American Amanda Weir, world record-holder Marleen Veldhuis of the Netherlands and 100m free world record-holder Britta Steffen of Germany.
The top five swimmers were all under the previous championship record of 24.45.
While Torres did what she had to do, the US women took a dive in the women's 4x100 medley relay, failing to reach the final. In the history of the Championships, the Americans had never finished out of the top two places in the medley relay.
Elizabeth Pelton, Kasey Carlson, Christine Magnuson and Julia Smit posted just the 10th-fastest time of the morning as China led the way into the final ahead of Japan and Germany.
Zhao Jing, Chen Huijia, Jiao Liuyang and Li Zhesi went through in 3:56.14.
China's Sun Yang notched the fastest qualifying time in the men's 1,500m freestyle ahead of Olympic champion Oussam Mellouli of Tunisia. Zhang Lin, who delivered gold for China in the men's 800m free, was fifth-fastest as the heats produced a finals lineup without an Australian for the first time in 23 years.
Also out was South Korean Park Tae-Hwan, whose miserable championships also included a failure to reach the finals in both the 400m and 200m freestyle.
Championship records also fell in the men's 50m backstroke and women's 50m breaststroke.
Brazil's Guilherme Guido notched the fastest 50m back time of 24.49, while Russian Yulia Efimova led the one-lap breaststroke in 30.24.
Saturday's finals promised fireworks in the men's 100m butterfly, with newly minted world record holder Milorad Cavic keen to avenge his narrow Olympic defeat by Michael Phelps.
Phelps kept his eight-gold bid on track with a victory over the Serbian by one one-hundredth of a second in Beijing, although Cavic remains convinced he was denied a rightful gold.
Cavic set the tone for the rematch by snatching Phelps's world record in the semi-finals, with a time of 50.01. It could well take a break through the 50-second barrier to lift the title.
The match-up offers an intriguing contrast of styles - both in the water and out.
Cavic boasts formidable early speed, while Phelps is traditionally a strong finisher. The American came from seventh at the turn to snatch the victory in Beijing. If he is too far behind Cavic, however, he's doomed.
"The key is how close Michael can be in the first 50," Phelps's coach Bob Bowman said. "If Michael is within a certain amount of tenths, he's going to win. We just don't know what that is."
Out of the water, Cavic enjoys stirring things up. He took a poke at Phelps and his LZR, suggesting the American make the switch to one of the polyurethane models.
Phelps, who has steadfastly declined to be drawn on the swimsuit issue all season, said simply: "I'm wearing this" as he pointed to his Speedo.
"I'm not about to start making comments now," Phelps said. "I'll let the swimming do my talking."
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